California is a bit of a train wreck with their climate agenda, but now that agenda is about to wreck the entire train industry.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has passed a new rule that will require freight railroads to adapt zero-emission trains by 2030 for industrial use and by 2035 for freight hauling.
There's just one problem.
(And it's not that California can't even complete the construction of an electric passenger train).
Functioning zero-emission freight trains don't exist.
These things have to pull 1000s of tons of freight, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy.
Sure, there are some prototypes out there like the Wabtec Corp locomotive, which has the power of 100 Tesla model Ys, but it can't pull freight on its own. Instead, it has to run with other diesel engines, and uses their energy to charge its battery.
In other words, current prototypes are a lot more like hybrids than Teslas, and that's hardly zero emissions.
If the railroads do not comply, California will fine them to the tune of $800 million per year per railroad.
The CARB rule's spending account provision significantly impacts all railroads operating in California. Estimates suggest that the Class I railroads there may be required to deposit as much as $800 million per year per railroad.
The larger railroads might be able to pass those costs along to us, increasing shipping costs exponentially, but smaller railroads would just fold, disrupting the supply chain and throwing the economy once more into turmoil.
(And probably pushing freight to the road, with even more carbon pollution.)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with more than 130 state and local chambers, have rejected the plan as being detrimental to the nation's economy, as have the trade associations, agricultural and energy groups, freight associations, the defense industry, the ironworkers union, the pipe workers union, federal offices, etc. etc.
The list goes on and on.
Let's just say that pretty much everyone with a brain thinks that mandating trains that don't exist is a bad idea.
But the good news is that the rule needs approval from the EPA, because Section 209(e) of the U.S. Clean Air Act,
... generally bars states from regulating emissions from new locomotives or engines, including remanufactured locomotives, (which the EPA cannot waive) and on all other locomotives (non-new) unless CARB secures a waiver from EPA. CARB's rule unequivocally violates the CAA by attempting to change the locomotive fleet nationwide to new, zero-emission models.
And also the ICC Termination Act of 1995, which says that,
The federal government should retain exclusive control over the regulation of railroad operations due to its inherent interstate nature. ICCTA therefore prohibits states and localities from regulating rail operations, including locomotives.
However, if the EPA gives California a waiver (and let's face it, the EPA is about as anti-American as they come), then our economy is going to implode harder than a post-2020 Disney movie.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
