May 05, 2025

STATEMENT BY IANA PRESIDENT and CEO ANNE REINKE

Intermodal Industry Supports Legislation Curtailing Patchwork Rail Regulation

CALVERTON, MD (May 5, 2025) – Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI) today introduced the Lifting Overburdensome Commerce Obstructions and Motives Act (the LOCOMOTIVES Act) to prohibit state agencies from requesting locomotive waivers to the federal Clean Air Act. In recent years, state regulators have sought waivers to the federal law in order to impose burdensome, and oftentimes impracticable, regulations on operations related to interstate commerce. For example, in 2023, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requested a waiver for its “In-Use Locomotive Regulation,” which proposed unrealistic phase-out dates for current diesel configurations and threatened national system fluidity. The LOCOMOTIVES Act would prohibit these types of harmful requests.

Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) President & CEO Anne Reinke offered the following statement in support of Congressman Moolenaar's LOCOMOTIVES Act:

“Intermodal freight transportation requires that public and private entities work in concert to move goods from origin to destination, utilizing the best attributes of rail, road, and water transport. These movements cross jurisdictional boundaries and require regulatory harmonization to deliver goods safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively. We applaud Congressman John Moolenaar for introducing legislation that would eliminate the possibility of rail-related patchwork regulations under the Clean Air Act that threaten interstate commerce.”