Freight Railroads & Climate Change

(Association of American Railroads) ... And AAR and its members have formed a dedicated working group to understand new lower-or-zero-carbon fuel technologies and other climate-related issues

Another potential fuel source is “blue hydrogen,” which is hydrogen made from natural gas in a way that captures, stores, or reuses associated carbon emissions. Similarly, biofuels are traditional fuel alternatives including ethanol, biodiesel (diesel made from nonpetroleum renewable sources such as natural fats and vegetable oils), and renewable hydrocarbon biofuels or green drop-in fuels (renewable hydrocarbon fuels derived from biomass sources that are comparable and compatible to existing petroleum-based fuels).

Although biofuels and renewable diesel are widely available as fuel blend stock, there are limited ASTM standards for these fuels, and equipment manufacturers have been leery of approving their use in locomotives. Additional funding for research on these lower-or-zero-carbon fuels and technologies will speed their adoption and continue to inform the development of standards for such fuels. Finally, funding should continue to be provided for grants under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program.

Support policies to further develop carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology Policymakers should continue to invest in the development and scaling of technologies that would both reduce emissions and keep the economy moving. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is one of these solutions. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: A QUANDARY: Trains are in general the most fuel efficient way to carry freight, and environmentalists and policymakers often argue that the U.S. should be trying to move more freight by rail. At the same time, it's an industry that relies heavily on shipping coal, and has been involved in funding climate denial for decades, as illustrated by a 2019 Atlantic article.

In a new report, the Association of American Railroads, the main group representing the country's biggest freight rail companies, makes the case that they're part of the solution, not the problem. "The AAR and the rail industry recognize that the climate is changing. If action is not taken, climate change will have significant repercussions for the planet, our economies, our society, and even day-to-day railroad operations," the report says.

The thrust of their proposals is simple, while also inherently self-serving: push freight traffic off the roads, and onto the tracks. They argue that if 10 percent of the freight shipped by the largest trucks were moved by rail instead, greenhouse gas emissions would fall more than 17 million tons annually. AAR's suggested methods include using market incentives to encourage shipping through lower-emissions modes, boosting the gas tax and eventually switching to a vehicle miles traveled fee, and imposing a "graduated emissions surcharge" to make higher-emitting vehicles pay more.

Other points include boosting research for alternative fuels and carbon capture (which the railroads argue they can be involved in by helping transport carbon to permanent storage sites).

Wordplay: The 2019 Atlantic article noted that AAR hadn't mentioned climate change in any public statements in recent years, and that the term didn't show up on the group's website. That's obviously not the case anymore, and it's notable what word doesn't show up anywhere in the climate report: coal, the commodity that in 2019 made up nearly a third of freight railroad's tonnage. READ MORE