(The following article by Nedra Lindsey was posted on the Long Beach Press Telegram website on October 27.)
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A pollution reduction agreement signed behind closed doors between the railroad industry and the California Air Resources Board will be contested today by the public, four months after its announcement.
After hearing comments from the public, board members will decide whether the agreement will be nullified, said Jerry Martin, director of communications for CARB.
The memoranda of agreement among CARB, Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe on June 24 stipulates that both companies will take steps to reduce emissions.
The agreement seeks to phase out unnecessary idling of locomotives within six months, install idle reduction devices on California-based rail cars in three years, repair locomotives producing excessive smoke, and convert to low sulfur diesel fuel by January 2007. CARB officials insist they negotiated an agreement benefiting the health of California residents and their pocketbooks because potential legal challenges were averted.
But opponents, including Long Beach mayor Beverly O’Neill, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, and State Senator Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, were disturbed that the staff of CARB signed the agreement without seeking public input.
More than 100 letters of protest by governmental officials alone were sent to the board after the decision.
“I thought it was terrible to do that in secret,” said Lowenthal, adding that the goals of agreement were good. “They could have alerted us. None of us knew that an mou (memo of understanding) was about to be finalized.”
Lowenthal and others, including the AQMD, also disagree with a condition regarded as a “poison pill,” because the arrangement would be nullified if legislators, municipalities and organizations implemented their own regulations.
The agreement comes at a time when efforts to ameliorate pollution stemming from the transport of merchandise containers are high.
Lowenthal feared it could affect legislation he wants to pass relating to tighter emission controls at the port, which would not be implementable because of the prior agreement.
AQMD, the only management district to differ with the agreement, is also vehemently opposed.
Under the arrangement, penalties for polluting would decrease from up to $5,000 to a range between $400 and $1200, said AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood.
Since CARB’s staff has signed the agreement the organization has implemented some changes:Staff can no longer enter into an agreement without first securing the approval of the board.
The board and the public must also be notified before contractual talks are undertaken.
The board’s mission is to promote and protect public health.
The meeting will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of the Air Resources Board, 9530 Telstar Ave., in El Monte