Communities near railyards, ports and other freight corridors have long been hit hard by air pollution from dirty, old locomotives. These massive, track-mounted vehicles, which use a diesel generator to power electric motors and move rail cars carrying cargo or passengers, are major polluters, responsible for a growing share of the emissions that increase cancer risk, shorten lives and worsen smog across California. Yet authorities have taken almost no action to change that.
Residents pleaded for years with state officials to make the railroads cut locomotives’ health-damaging emissions but were told there was nothing California could do because of an exemption in the federal Clean Air Act.
That stance began to change few years ago. Exasperated California air quality officials took another look and determined although the state cannot impose emission standards on the manufacturers of locomotives — that’s the responsibility of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — it does have the authority to regulate railroad operators and the type of equipment they use. The state Air Resources Board is set to vote next month on tough new rules for the roughly 12,000 locomotives operating in California. The regulations would force the rail industry to replace its oldest, dirtiest locomotives with the cleanest diesel models and eventually, with zero-emission electric or fuel cell technology.
