(The Associated Press circulated the following story on August 10.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Representatives from major railroad companies that run trains through Central California say they are willing to help clean the San Joaquin Valley’s air, but there are costly steps along the way.
New locomotives are cleaner, but there are thousands of older ones still being used because of their durability, said Mark Stehly of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway at a hearing Wednesday by state Sen. Dean Florez and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.
The Democratic lawmakers had asked the companies to implement an agreement in the valley similar to a program in Southern California in which the railroads agreed in 1998 to buy cleaner locomotives for the South Coast Air Basin.
But officials from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Union Pacific Railroad warned Florez the valley is vastly different from the south coast. They said it would be difficult to establish a separate group of locomotives for the valley.
“The south coast is an origin-destination type of place,” Stehly said. “The San Joaquin is a flow corridor. It has fewer stops and few places to switch. It’s just not the same situation.”
Locomotives produce about 28 tons of smog-making pollutants per day in the valley, according to state estimates.