Short-line operator: California’s new locomotive emissions rule could ‘kill’ industry

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/short-line-operator-california-locomotive-215141539.html

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Short line railroad operators in California are concerned about California’s new locomotive emissions rule, according to Kennan H. Beard III. Beard doesn’t think it’s an exaggeration that the new California Air Resources Board rule on locomotive emissions will wipe out many short-line railroad operations in the state.

“This regulation is going to potentially destroy an industry that puts out two-tenths of a percent of the emissions of all diesel emissions in the state. I mean, we’re such a small, small portion of the emissions in the state, but it could kill the entire short-line industry” in California because of the modal shift to trucks, Beard told FreightWaves.

“I don’t think they’ve taken everything into consideration, and even by their own admittance, they didn’t worry about the move to trucks. They said it was too hard to calculate. They weren’t going to calculate it. And we asked about the increased highway deaths by modal shift, and they said highway deaths were not their concern. They were only concerned about deaths from locomotive emissions. So we don’t think the regulation is as thought out as it should be,” Beard said.

The new regulation, which must go through an approval process with California’s Office of Administrative Law before being implemented, requires railroad operators in California to use “zero-emissions configurations” starting as early as 2030.

“The California short lines don’t have the capital and the wherewithal to be replacing our locomotives every 23 years… Short lines typically run locomotives for upwards of 50 to 60 years before they’re being replaced. So replacing them in a shortened life cycle of 23 years is going to be insurmountable for many, many railroads,” said Beard.

Short-line operators like Beard, along with ASLRRA and the Association of American Railroads, are considering their next steps should the regulation become law. One possibility is to pursue litigation, with the argument that the regulation inhibits interstate commerce.

“CARB has demonstrated extraordinarily little flexibility or even awareness of the unique nature of short lines as it finalized its rule. We will consider all options as we look to save threatened short lines in California, seeking a win-win-win result for the environment, short lines, and our shippers, not a lose-lose-lose result as this rule would provide,” ASLRRA President Chuck Baker said in a May 1 news release.

Beard said, “We’re not against clean air. We just want to be able to do it in a pattern and method we can afford.”