LOS ANGELES (AP) — An environmental group sent letters Tuesday warning two of the country’s biggest rail companies to prepare for a federal lawsuit if they don’t undertake measures to clean up hazardous waste their facilities emit into the air from diesel engines in 16 California rail yards.
The Natural Resources Defense Council sent letters to Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, saying it will file a lawsuit within 90 days under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which regulates hazardous solid waste disposal.
The council argues that minute particles in diesel air pollution, which include lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic elements, are solid waste. If successful, such a suit could open the door for legal action against similar air pollution sources such as ports and airports, said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the council.
Aaron Hunt, a spokesman for Omaha-based Union Pacific, and Lena Kent, a spokeswoman for Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF, which is owned by Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway, did not immediately return a call and email for comment.
The rail yards have long been blamed for health problems in communities along those transit corridors.
Southern California air quality regulators recently announced a major study focusing on a San Bernardino rail yard that has been found to pose the greatest health risk of any rail yard in the state. Researchers are hoping the two-year study will determine if there is a higher asthma and fatal cancer rate in the nearby community.
The letter recommends a series of remedies for the pollution, including the use of cleaner locomotives, electrifying rail lines in urban areas and reduced idling.
Environmental law experts say that while RCRA regulates solid hazardous waste, it could potentially be applied to diesel particulates.
Holly Doremus, an environmental law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the Clean Air Act is supposed to apply to such particulate pollution, but the restrictions haven’t been particularly effective.
“It’s not a slam dunk either way, and I think it’s very creative by the NRDC to have found this possibility,” she said.
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