Get ready for California to further fuck up everything for everyone. This will add big cost increases to everything.
The railroad would have to reconsider its $1.5 billion investment in the Barstow International Gateway if California’s zero-emission regulations are allowed to proceed, CEO Katie Farmer says
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway would have to reconsider its plans to build the $1.5 billion Barstow International Gateway if California’s zero-emissions locomotive mandate is allowed to move forward, CEO Katie Farmer says.
The California Air Resources Board’s in-use locomotive rule went into effect on Jan. 1. It bans the operation of any locomotive that is 23 years old or older from operating in the state. And it requires switching, industrial, and passenger locomotives to be zero-emissions by 2030 and freight line-haul locomotives to be emissions-free by 2035.
CARB has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver that would allow full implementation of the rule, including a provision that would require railroads to contribute to a spending account annually that would set aside money for the purchase of zero-emissions locomotives.
“We estimate that that payment for us, and I know that it would be similar for the Union Pacific, would be around $800 million a year,” Farmer told the North American Rail Shippers conference last week.
The rule has a number of problems, Farmer says. Chief among them: A commercially viable zero-emissions locomotive doesn’t yet exist.
The rule, which initially would bar two-thirds of the locomotive fleet from operating in California, also doesn’t recognize the complexity of the interstate rail network. The spending account provision would drive up rail costs and ultimately push freight to trucks that emit far more greenhouse gas emissions.
California: We want trains!
BNSF: We have trains.
California: No, no, not like that!
Instead they should start investing in Mexican ports and rail infrastructure and bypass California entirely....Let them truck everything into CA.
The railroad would have to reconsider its $1.5 billion investment in the Barstow International Gateway if California’s zero-emission regulations are allowed to proceed, CEO Katie Farmer says
CHICAGO — BNSF Railway would have to reconsider its plans to build the $1.5 billion Barstow International Gateway if California’s zero-emissions locomotive mandate is allowed to move forward, CEO Katie Farmer says.
The California Air Resources Board’s in-use locomotive rule went into effect on Jan. 1. It bans the operation of any locomotive that is 23 years old or older from operating in the state. And it requires switching, industrial, and passenger locomotives to be zero-emissions by 2030 and freight line-haul locomotives to be emissions-free by 2035.
CARB has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver that would allow full implementation of the rule, including a provision that would require railroads to contribute to a spending account annually that would set aside money for the purchase of zero-emissions locomotives.
“We estimate that that payment for us, and I know that it would be similar for the Union Pacific, would be around $800 million a year,” Farmer told the North American Rail Shippers conference last week.
The rule has a number of problems, Farmer says. Chief among them: A commercially viable zero-emissions locomotive doesn’t yet exist.
The rule, which initially would bar two-thirds of the locomotive fleet from operating in California, also doesn’t recognize the complexity of the interstate rail network. The spending account provision would drive up rail costs and ultimately push freight to trucks that emit far more greenhouse gas emissions.
California: We want trains!
BNSF: We have trains.
California: No, no, not like that!
Instead they should start investing in Mexican ports and rail infrastructure and bypass California entirely....Let them truck everything into CA.
