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Put the Brakes On Locomotive Pollution

Railroads are one of the major under-regulated sources of air pollution in southern California. Furthermore, rail traffic in the south coast air basin is expected to grow dramatically over the next decade. Air pollution originating from railroad operations in the area, already a serious problem at current levels, exceeds emissions from one hundred of the largest oil refineries, power plants, chemical plants, and manufacturing industries combined. And California's Air Resources Board has classified diesel exhaust as a cancer-causing toxic air contaminant.

Senate Bill 1397 (Escutia) authorizes the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) to establish a program to reduce and mitigate pollutant emissions from locomotives and other heavy-duty vehicles operating at rail yards.

No other surface transportation mode in America is allowed to pollute the way railroads are. Emissions from locomotives remain unacceptably high because the federal regulation pre-empts state action, and the U.S. EPA has simply failed to require rail operators to do their fair share to reduce their pollution. The federal Clean Air Act does, however, allow California to seek a preemption waiver that would allow the SCAQMD to implement a program for reducing locomotive emissions.

SB 1397 authorizes the SCAQMD to adopt regulations requiring operators of locomotives and other qualified vehicles to install retrofit controls to reduce emissions and to impose a reasonable fee on railroads operating in the SCAQMD region to mitigate the impact of their emissions. SB 1397 establishes specific criteria to ensure fair treatment of regulated entities as well as affected communities. The bill also creates an incentive for all affected railroad companies to avoid the fee by entering into a binding agreement with the air district to meet their fair share of emission reductions.

Locomotive emissions also represent an important environmental justice issue because of their impact on urban communities, particularly where rail lines intersect major streets and highways and result in vehicles idling at the crossing. The communities that line the Alameda corridor, for example, suffer some of the heaviest emissions of particulate matter in the air basin.

What You Can Do

SB 1397 is carefully crafted to deal with railroad-generated pollution, one of the most significant and under-recognized sources of air pollution in the south coast basin. The bill has passed through the Senate and is now being heard in the Assembly. Please contact your Assembly Member and encourage his or her support of SB 1397 in committee and on the floor.

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Your Assembly Member
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

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