Inflation may be down from the 9.1% high President Joe Biden caused with his multitrillion-dollar stimulus, but it is still higher than pre-pandemic levels and shows little sign of falling further.
A president of normal mental capacity whose name was already synonymous with higher prices might be extra careful to make sure none of his policies could cause massive price spikes nationwide again.
Unfortunately, Biden does not appear to be of normal presidential mental capacity, which is why his Environmental Protection Agency is now poised to allow Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to raise prices on almost everything you buy, yet again.
This month, the EPA will hold a public hearing on a waiver sought by the California Air Resources Board to implement new state regulations on freight rail trains that are stricter than the current national Clean Air Act standards.
Under California’s proposed rule, starting in 2030, no train older than 23 years may operate in the state. (Locomotives usually last 40 years.) Starting in 2042, half of all trains must be battery-powered entirely, and by 2047, all trains must be.
Transitioning from diesel-powered trains to electric trains will be prohibitively expensive, which is why starting in 2026, California will require all train companies in the state to set aside almost a billion dollars each to fund an eventual transition to a battery-powered fleet.
Train companies cannot fund the transition now because the technology for a completely battery-powered train simply does not exist. Freight trains are both enormously large and heavy. They must also operate in the bitter cold and climb steep heights through mountains. Cold weather and steep inclines have proven to reduce the range of truck electric vehicles by half. It would be far worse for freight trains, which carry much heavier loads.
The damage from California’s freight rail regulation would be immediate and devastating. First, trains do not switch when crossing state borders, so train fleets would be forced to update their entire fleet to make sure they complied with the ban on engines older than 23 years now.
Second, since almost all freight train companies operate in California, they would all be forced to start contributing almost a billion dollars a year to the mandatory transition fund. Since 40% of all long-haul freight traffic is delivered by train, this would mean immediate price increases for almost all consumers. Finally, since an operative commercially available prototype does not exist, every train company would face regulatory uncertainty as the 2042 and 2047 fleet mandates kicked in.
Biden’s EPA does not need to approve the California waiver. The national Clean Air Act standard for trains already ensures that diesel freight is not contributing to bad air quality or other health concerns. Freight is also already climate-friendly, capable of moving a ton of freight nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
California’s push for a zero-emission transportation sector is simply unrealistic and ultimately useless since China is currently adding two new coal plants every week. If Biden is looking for an opportunity to show that he can repudiate far-left environmental agendas in favor of lower prices for consumers, rejecting California’s freight rail waiver would be a great place to start.