Appeals Court Blocks Emissions Limits on Idling Trains

Air quality agencies tasked with reducing pollution in Southern California cannot impose emissions limits on idling trains, a federal appeals court ruled.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld an earlier decision by a lower court that said federal interstate commerce statutes expressly preempt regulation of railroads by any other entity.

In 2005 and 2006, the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued idling restrictions on trains in a rail corridor with four yards.