California agency to vote on 'groundbreaking' rule limiting locomotive emissions

Every day, locomotives pull rail cars filled with food, lumber, oil and other products through railyards near neighborhoods in Oakland, Commerce, San Bernadino and other California cities.

They run on diesel, a more powerful fuel than gasoline, and burning all that diesel produces pollution that is harmful for people who live nearby, as well as greenhouse gases. California's Air Resources Board is trying to change that.

The agency votes Thursday on a rule that would ban the use of locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030 and increase the use of zero-emissions technology to transport freight from ports and throughout railyards. The rule would also ban locomotives in the state from idling longer than 30 minutes if they are equipped with an automatic shutoff.

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The rule would be the most ambitious of its kind in the country.

"It's going to be groundbreaking, and it's going to address the diesel crisis that's been poisoning communities near railyards for literal decades," said Yasmine Agelidis, a lawyer with environmental nonprofit Earthjustic...