(The following story by S. Heather Duncan appeared on the Macon Telegraph website on May 15, 2009.)
MACON, Ga. — Four years after receiving a $4 million infusion from Congress to clean up Middle Georgia’s air, the Middle Georgia Clean Air Coalition finally decided Thursday how to spend it.
The coalition created a committee to negotiate with Norfolk Southern to buy cleaner-burning switch engines for the railroad’s Brosnan Yard in Macon. The major train switching hub is near Bibb County’s air monitor.
The decision won’t be finalized, though, until a deal is made with the company and a majority of Middle Georgia city councils and county commissions endorse the decision.
The coalition is made up of the mayors and county commission chairmen in Bibb County and the six counties that surround it.
In the years since the coalition was first awarded the funds, Bibb County and part of Monroe County reduced their smog levels, but they now fail to meet new federal smog standards.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is expected to designate the area “nonattainment” for having unsafe levels of ozone, the primary component of smog.
In addition, Bibb and part of Monroe remain in a nonattainment zone for dangerous levels of fine particle pollution, which can be absorbed deep into the lungs.
Both types of air pollution can cause breathing and heart problems.
Since the money became available, $4.5 million before the federal government took a cut, it has been the source of sometimes heated disputes among coalition members. Some of them thought it should be divided equally among all the governments, while others argued in favor of spending most in the nonattainment counties.
But Thursday, members of the coalition’s executive committee urged the coalition to focus on creating a measurable impact — no matter where — that could be used to earn leeway from federal environmental regulators.
Harold “Bubba” Edwards, mayor of Centerville, said his city council has already approved the idea of spending all the money on “genset” locomotive engines because they can reduce air pollution by so much.
Genset locomotives consist of several smaller diesel engines, which don’t all have to run at once. They are most useful for switch engines, which move trains around rail yards and are among the oldest and dirtiest in Norfolk Southern’s fleet.
According to Georgia Department of Transportation estimates, replacing a single switch engine with a genset locomotive reduces emissions of nitrogen oxide, a primary contributor to ozone, by 14 tons per year.
“When you get down to the smaller stuff, it’s like trying to fill up your gas tank with an eyedropper,” Edwards said. “But with a genset, that’s like a big nozzle. … don’t care that it’s in Macon. I care that it’s near the air monitor.”
Norfolk Southern railroad would pay 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost of the locomotives, which run about $1.5 million, according to Norfolk Southern officials.
That made the idea more attractive to Monroe County Commission Chairman James Vaughn, because the federal grant requires a 20 percent match. Projects must be paid for upfront by local governments before being reimbursed, which is tough to afford now, he noted.
Macon Mayor Robert Reichert, who is chairman of the coalition, agreed.
“We broke,” he said bluntly. “The city of Macon ain’t got $250,000 to put up the local match. I ain’t got the money — but Norfolk Southern does.”
Ned Sanders, Houston County Commission chairman, protested that it seemed unreasonable for Norfolk Southern to ask that 80 percent of its new technology costs be funded with public dollars.
But Reichert said without the federal funding the railroad will likely do “the minimum necessary” at Brosnan Yard.
The coalition did discuss other possible uses of the money Thursday, including subsidizing the cost of alternative fuel or hybrid vehicles for government fleets or school buses and creating park-and-ride programs.