Calif. air regulators to vote on rail yard emission cuts; local regulators say it’s too weak

Calif. regulators to vote on rail emission cuts

LOS ANGELES — Local air regulators are asking the state to reject a plan that would reduce emissions at four top particulate producing rail yards in Southern California, saying it doesn’t go far enough.

California Air Resources Board spokeswoman Karen Caesar said the agency has been working on cutting down pollution from rail yards since 2005. The latest proposal, expected to be voted on Thursday, could reduce emission levels even further — by more than 130 tons by 2020.

The targeted rail yards, owned by Union Pacific Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, comprise one in San Bernardino, one in Long Beach and two in the city of Commerce southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

But Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which overseas the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County, said the plan falls short. His agency is asking the board to postpone the vote and send the plan back to staff for improvements.

“We think it’s not going far enough,” he said. “They should require additional steps that are clearly feasible that the railroads could take. … Why lock in unacceptably high level of health risk?”

Even after the emission goals are met, pollution levels will still be much greater than local air regulators allow a commercial business to have, he said. Atwood added that the rail companies could speed up the introduction of new, less-polluting commercial locomotives, electric trucks and electric trains, and could move some of the equipment in the rail yards farther away from homes.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Lupe Valdez, however, praised the current proposal.

“It’s a big deal for us because we’re committing to these goals,” she said. “There’s no other state in the union doing these types of reductions at rail yards.”

Besides idling ships and truck traffic, rail yards are significant sources of pollution in the goods movement industry. Community and environmental groups have urged officials for years to do more to cut down on emission levels.

In 2005, the board announced it had reached an agreement with Union Pacific and BNSF to cut pollution at rail yards by eliminating unnecessary engine idling and using other pollution controls.

As part of this agreement officials conducted health risk assessments and found that the four rail yards in Southern California had some of the highest pollution levels.

This latest proposal would set caps on emission for these four rail yards. Each would have a tailored pollution reduction plan with voluntary goals that must be met within a designated timeframe.