Locomotive Idle Reduction Project

Press

Fresno Bee (and Modesto Bee)
October 3, 2004
Editorial: Cleaning up diesels
The Fresno Bee ran an editorial yesterday on the recent rollout of the West Coast Diesel Emission Reduction Collaborative and the funds that will go toward reducing diesel emissions from locomotives, however they state that there are concerns that in the initial phase none of the money will go to fix farm equipment -- one of the urgent needs in the Valley.

Friday, October 1, 2004
Railroads Get Grants To Help Clean The Air
A $75,000 grant to upgrade aging diesel locomotives in the San Joaquin Valley is only the beginning of a voluntary program to help clean up the sooty air, say federal environmental officials. "We're really trying to use it to build momentum," said Kerry Drake, associate director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco. The grant to Union Pacific and to Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway is part of $6 million in West Coast voluntary emission reduction projects that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday. None of the funding so far relates to agriculture, a prime source of the valley's pollution.