California State Rail Plan 2007-08 to 2017-18

Chapter XVII – Environmental Considerationshealth risks 85 percent; cut emissions to attain federal air quality standards; andrapidly reduce localized health risks near goods movement facilities.Through its Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and Goods Movement, CARBidentified and is initiating specific actions necessary to achieve these goals ofreducing emissions and protecting public health. The Plan is California’sframework for coordinating community health risk assessments and plans, EPA airquality standards attainment and Statewide Implementation Plans, CARB’s DieselRisk Reduction Plan (2000), and the Goods Movement Action Plan.EMISSION INVENTORY/CHARACTERISTICSThe emission inventory is the foundation of the Air Resources Board’s EmissionReduction Plan. The inventory identifies the types and quantities of variouspollutants being emitted as well as where and when exposures are occurring.The inventory is a “snapshot in time”; though determined scientifically, itnecessarily includes emission estimates based on what is known at the time ofmeasurement and analysis. The Plan identifies 2001 emission levels for theinventory baseline and forecasts expected changes for 2020.There is a continual process at all levels of government, academia, and privateindustry to improve understanding of emissions, their effect on human health, andtechnologies to reduce their impact. Forecasts of future conditions in the emissioninventory include the benefits that will result from existing state and federal rulesand assumed growth rates for trade and population. As industry responds toexisting rules, emissions from locomotive engines and heavy-duty trucks willdecrease from current levels. However, these emissions – primarily dieselparticulate matter (dPM), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and oxides of sulfur (SOx) –cannot be reduced at a rate fast enough to achieve public health goals.Mobile sources of diesel emissions related to goods movement include harborcraft, cargo handling equipment (used at ports and rail yards), ocean-going vessels,heavy-duty trucks, and locomotive engines. ARB expects the most significantemission changes will be for trucks and locomotives. In the Draft Plan, ARBconsidered international trade movements in and through California. The finalPlan includes all rail trips associated with domestic and international trademovements which increased identified locomotive emissions by a factor of two tothree.ARB first began to develop a baseline inventory of locomotive emissions in 1987.The results were published in the Locomotive Emission Study (Booz-Allen &Hamilton, 1991) and revised in the Report on Locomotive Emission Inventory:Locomotive Emissions by County (Booz-Allen & Hamilton, 1992). The 1991report included an estimate of the emission inventory from locomotive operationsin the six non-attainment air basins with the highest levels of rail activity inCalifornia at that time. The 1992 revision provided additional information and239