EPA To Consider Tougher Locomotive Emissions Rules

CBS Los Angeles

November 10, 2022

The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will consider adopting stricter rules on locomotive emissions in response to concerns raised by California regulators.

The EPA said it has set up a team to evaluate whether it needs to update the pollution standards for locomotives that it put in place in 2008, and to look at what the agency can do to encourage railroads to upgrade their locomotives.

The EPA said it recognizes that even though those 2008 rules set stringent standards for new locomotives, the railroad workhorses continue to be a significant source of particulate matter and nitrous oxide emissions because older locomotives often remain in use for decades. Those emissions are associated with increased cancer risks and other health problems — particularly in neighborhoods around railyards.

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