California South Coast AQMD adopts rail yards emission rule
9 August 2024
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) Governing Board adopted Rule 2306, known as the Freight Rail Yards Indirect Source Rule (ISR), which requires rail yard operators to take actions to meet specific emission reductions targets. South Coast AQMD expects the rule to reduce NOx emissions associated with freight rail yards by about 10.5 tons per day between 2027 to 2050.
The rule is designed to work together with the In-Use Locomotive Regulation adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Freight rail yards subject to the rule will be required to meet annual NOx emission reduction targets through a variety of actions including using cleaner technologies or lower emitting equipment associated with rail yards.
The NOx emission reduction targets are defined for every year from 2027 through 2050. By 2027, emissions must be reduced by 82.4% relative to a Reference Scenario.
The rule applies to owners or operators of proposed, new, and existing freight rail yards located within South Coast AQMD’s jurisdiction, which includes large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. As part of the rule, owners and operators of freight rail yards will be required to report on the planning, development, and use of zero-emission infrastructure to support state regulations and meet broader federal and state zero-emission goals.
The Rail Yards ISR covers about 25 facilities located throughout the South Coast AQMD jurisdiction. Freight rail yards covered by the rule are locations where locomotive switching activities occur or where cargo is loaded or unloaded from railcars for transportation to or from the rail yard using the rail yard operator’s locomotives. Emissions associated with freight rail yards are emitted from locomotives, drayage trucks, cargo handling equipment (CHE), and miscellaneous off-road equipment like transportation refrigeration units (TRUs).
The Rail Yards ISR will become effective after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues waivers for the Rail Yards ISR and CARB’s rules on locomotives and drayage truck fleets.
Under prior EPA rules, locomotive emissions were subject to federal regulation and states and local governments were preempted from regulating locomotives and locomotive engines. In November 2023, the EPA changed its locomotive preemption policy to enable the California In-Use Locomotive Regulation.
The Rail Yards ISR has been opposed by the rail industry. In a July 30th letter to the South Coast AQMD, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) wrote that, while the trade group shares the district’s goal of improving air quality, the rail yards rule is flawed and “unfeasible and unworkable.”
Likewise, railway industry stakeholders have been opposing the California In-Use Locomotive Regulation, arguing that it would harm the nation’s interconnected rail system. In July, a group of 32 US Senators urged the EPA Administrator Michael Regan to reject the California locomotive regulation. The rule is not only extremely costly, but infeasible given the current state of technology, the Senators said, referring to the lack of commercially available zero-emission freight locomotives. In May, 74 US Congress members sent a similar letter opposing the California locomotive rule.
Source: South Coast AQMD