The EPA Can Reject California Rules for Railroads

This story is from Real Clear Markets.
Click here to read the full story. Below is a condensed summary.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold an important hearing on March 20th to consider a request from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to fundamentally distort the regulation of economically critical railroads and their locomotive fleet. The EPA has a unique opportunity to stand for the rule of law while still advancing its mission for a cleaner environment. Decisive action in defending its regulatory lane and rejecting the overtures of California, which is seeking to obliterate highly efficient locomotives – responsible for just 0.6 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions – would also protect millions of American businesses and consumers across the country.

At issue is a waiver the state of California must receive to implement a sweeping measure it recently passed. The rule says that railroads must prematurely start retiring their existing locomotive fleet in 2030, and that after 2035 railroads may no longer purchase new locomotives for use in California unless they are “zero-emission.”  Yet no such locomotive is viable today and even the most optimistic forecasts say there is no way railroads could possibly replace thousands of locomotives in less than eleven years. This is to say nothing about very real grid capacity concerns.

The EPA has a choice. We should all hope it makes the right one, favoring solutions that protect the economy while advancing our environmental goals.