(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 27.)
SACRAMENTO — State air regulators refused Friday to scrap an agreement with two railroads that is supposed to reduce railyard pollution by 20 percent.
A motion to terminate the agreement with Union Pacific Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway drew only two votes from members of the California Air Resources Board. Three members opposed it and two abstained, said Jerry Martin, a spokesman for the board.
The agreement, announced last June, includes provisions requiring the railroads to eliminate unnecessary engine idling at the yards, quickly repair smoking engines and begin maximum use of low-sulfur diesel fuel in locomotives six years sooner than required by federal regulations.
The pact has been criticized by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, a regional agency based in Los Angeles that is considering tougher idling standards than those in the CARB agreement.
But Martin said the agreement has already produced results. Most engines are already using low-sulfur fuel and a third that operate in California have been equipped with devices that shut them off after a certain amount of idling, he added.
He said the CARB decided to negotiate an agreement with the railroads rather than adopt regulations or seek legislation that could be tied up in court fights over whether the state has the authority to control railroad pollution.
“We don’t think this agency or the air districts have a real lot of authority to make the railroads do what they don’t want to do because we’re pre-empted by federal law,” Martin said. “South Coast has a different opinion.”
Although it refused to scrap the agreement, the board ordered its staff to report back in six months on whether the railroads were still abiding by the agreement, Martins said.