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6/19/2023
The Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association late last week filed a federal lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in the Eastern District of California over its new in-use locomotive regulation.
The CARB rule would limit the useful life of railroads’ existing locomotive fleet — over 25,000 units — and mandate their premature replacement with zero-emissions locomotives, AAR and ASLRRA officials said in a press release.
Zero-emissions technology has not been sufficiently tested in prototype or operational service and is not yet commercially available on the market, they added. In the past, railroads have worked successfully with CARB to advance initiatives aimed at improving air quality, they said.
"While the urgency to act is real and unquestionable, CARB uses unreasonable, flawed assumptions to support a rule that will not result in emissions reductions," said AAR President and CEO Ian Jefferies.
Under the rule, CARB would begin charging railroads operating locomotives within the state billions of dollars annually when the rule is expected to take effect in October.
The rule's implementation would cause some small business short lines to go bankrupt, said ASLRRA President Chuck Baker. The rulemaking does not acknowledge the impact that elimination of some short lines would have on Californians, he added.
"For the public, it means the rising cost of products and a modal shift to trucks — a far less safe means of transportation resulting in more fatalities and injuries, more congestion on California’s roads, more burden on the California taxpayer to pay for road damage and more microplastics from shredded truck tires in the environment and water supply," Baker said.
As a part of the suit, AAR and ASLRRA filed to preliminarily enjoin implementation and enforcement of the rule while the district court considers the case.