Railroads Sue California Over Pollution Cut Mandate

The railroad industry has sued to block new environmental rules in California.
The rules would force the premature retirement of about 25,000 diesel-powered locomotives across the country.
The rules governing railroads would ban the use of locomotives more than 23 years old starting in 2030 and would force railroads to start setting aside more than $1 billion a year starting this fall solely to purchase zero-emission locomotives and related equipment.
The industry says the technology for zero-emission locomotives hasn’t been sufficiently tested and won’t be ready to carry the load of delivering more than 30 million carloads of freight nationwide each year.
The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the California Air Resources Board does not have the authority to issue these rules.