Jay Obernolte: “Last year the California Air Resources Board proposed a new regulation that would have disastrous consequences for my…”

“Last year the California Air Resources Board proposed a new regulation that would have disastrous consequences for my constituents, for the people of California, and for the people of the United States. This so-called in-use locomotive rule would phase out the use of diesel-electric locomotives and require all locomotives entering the State of California to do so in a zero-emission configuration within just a few short years. Mr. Chairman, there are several problems with this regulation. The first and most obvious is that there are currently no electric locomotives that can take the place of a diesel-electric freight locomotive. In fact, the best electric locomotives that exist currently are those so-called switch locomotives that are used to move cars back and forth between trains within freight switchyards. There are no locomotives that can take the place of a diesel-electric locomotive and haul millions of pounds of freight from place to place over hundreds of miles. Mr. Chairman, the physics suggest there will be no locomotives that can accomplish this any time in the near future. Requiring this regulation would raise prices for every consumer in California, a State, Mr. Chairman, which already suffers the worst poverty of any State in the country. Mr. Chairman, this would also have a disastrous effect on my constituents.…”