Editorial Board
California May Break the Freight-Rail Network
A well-meaning plan to reduce carbon emissions is likely to have the opposite effect — and could cripple the shipping industry.
Stay on track.
Photographer: Mardis Coers/Moment Mobile
It’s an abiding challenge: Faced with hard problems, policymakers demand simple solutions, details unspecified. Increasingly, this approach is obstructing the fight against climate change.
A recent effort in California is emblematic. Last year, the state’s air-pollution regulator, known as CARB, finalized a new rule that would require freight railroads in the state to adopt zero-emissions locomotives for industrial use by 2030 and for normal hauling by 2035. It is now requesting a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to proceed.