Darien’s Genesee & Wyoming enters settlement to address air violations
Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services reached a settlement with federal agencies for violating Clean Air Act locomotive regulations, the U.S. Department of Justice announced this week.
The complaint, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the DOJ, alleges the Darien company’s “locomotives with rebuilt engines failed to meet applicable EPA emission standards.” The complaint also alleges the company “did not perform required emissions-related maintenance or keep records of maintenance performed,” the DOJ said in a news release.
Throughout their operation, locomotives and their engines are typically rebuilt, or manufactured, multiple times due to cost and other considerations. EPA regulations require that rebuilt locomotive engines “use the latest technology ... to reduce emissions,” according to the DOJ.
“G&W’s affiliated railroads inadvertently neglected to upgrade 11 of 885 locomotives to the appropriate emission standard,” Genesee & Wyoming said in a statement Tuesday. “In addition, various maintenance paperwork deficiencies were identified.”
The locomotives burned diesel fuel, producing significant emissions of nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter, the DOJ said. Nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of summer ozone, while the particulate matter has been shown to cause lung damage and cancer, the DOJ said.
“The consent decree requires GWRSI to comply with this requirement for rebuilt engines and take steps to ensure that it does not purchase or sell locomotives that have been rebuilt without conforming to applicable emissions standards,” the DOJ said. “It also requires that GWRSI timely perform critical emissions-related maintenance.”
Genesee & Wyoming said it agreed to “promptly upgrade all 11 locomotives at issue and to resolve all paperwork deficiencies as part of the settlement.”
Also as part of the settlement, the company plans to decrease its emissions by purchasing “cleaner, more fuel-efficient locomotives for the company fleet and retire over 80 legally compliant, older, less-efficient locomotives as part of this fleet enhancement,” the company said.
These 88 older locomotives are not required to meet EPA standards, according to the DOJ.
As a result of the settlement, Genesee & Wyoming estimates it will reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by almost 470 tons per year and particulate matter emissions by 14 tons per year, the DOJ said.
In all, Genesee & Wyoming estimates it will spend about $42 million to comply with the consent decree, including a $1.35 million civil penalty, according to the DOJ.
“We believe these investments demonstrate G&W’s commitment to environmental responsibility and that the associated retirement of locomotives will generate environmental benefits that significantly exceed any adverse impact associated with the violations alleged by the government,” the company’s statement concluded.
The company is headquartered in Connecticut and employs roughly 90 people, according to Tom Ciuba, the company’s vice president of communications.
The settlement stems from March 2019 when the EPA issued Genesee & Wyoming a violation, according to the complaint. The EPA found the violation after requesting information from the company, and its affiliates, about its locomotive and locomotive engines in June 2018, September 2018 and July 2019.
“By requiring locomotives to follow emissions standards, and requiring dozens of older, higher-polluting locomotives to be scrapped altogether, this consent decree reduces health threats from air pollution nationwide, particularly in those communities that live along railroad corridors,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim, of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement.
According to the 45-page consent decree, Genesee & Wyoming may request to terminate the consent decree after the company complies for one year and have paid the civil penalty.
The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval, the DOJ said.