California's High-Speed Rail Project Could Further Pollute Historically Burdened Colton Community

In the near future, California's High-Speed Rail may transport people across the state in less than three hours on zero-emission powered trains. The public rail project now has the funds to complete its first phase in the Central Valley and is planning on how to link the 171-mile line to the metro centers of the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

Along the planned southernmost line, passengers will be able to take a train near Angel Stadium in Anaheim to Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. It's a project that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) says will help alleviate expected increases in traffic congestion and freight volumes, while helping reduce emissions in the decades to come.

But while the new passenger line might sound like welcome news to travelers, it will have rippling effects on a historically burdened community in Colton, where the CHSRA has proposed to work with freight railroad BNSF Railway to build a new intermodal facility at the site of the old CalPortland Cement Plant.

Currently, BNSF owns the railroad right-of-way from Fullerton to Downtown Los Angeles and uses the line to move freight cargo. CHSRA says the facility will help avoid freight and passenger train disruptions along the corridor between Los Angeles and Orange County during the construction of the High-Speed Rail and once full operations begin.

The proposed Colton Intermodal Facility — a.k.a. the "Colton Component"— will reroute a large portion of freight currently running through the Fullerton-Los Angeles corridor to the Inland Empire to allow conventional passenger rail lines operated by Metrolink and Amtrak to have access during the high speed rail's construction.

High Speed Rail Authority ‘Not Being Very Specific'

Plans for the Colton Component project were introduced in August 2020. Along with an intermodal yard, CHSRA and BNSF intend to make roadway and utility modifications, as well as extend tracks to connect to the new facility. If approved, up to 10 freight trains per day and an estimated 2,700 truck trips per day would be added to existing local traffic volumes. Preliminary engineering proposals would also potentially remove commercial and residential properties along La Cadena Drive and Fogg Avenue in Colton.

A state-required Environmental Impact Report and federal-required Environmental Impact Statement are scheduled to be released sometime in the summer or fall of 2023, confirmed CHSRA's Southern California Regional Director LaDonna DiCamillo.

DiCamillo says the Los Angeles to Anaheim project section — including the Colton Component — is one part of a "bigger whole" statewide transportation network that will be built to provide fast, reliable and sustainable transportation for Californians.

"Through the process, we will solicit feedback from the public and stakeholders on proposed plans and identify appropriate mitigation measures or opportunities to integrate best available technologies into the project to avoid or minimize impacts," she said in a written statement. "This collaboration helps us better integrate into and connect with communities who may be impacted by the project."

The City of Colton raised environmental, noise, traffic and land use concerns about the project in a letter to CHSRA back in September 2020. Development Services Director Mark Tomich shared that his staff is having difficulty keeping up with the project because of delays and changes in the project timeline.

"They are not very specific and they keep changing their timeline," he said in a phone interview. "[The Environmental Impact Report] was supposed to be out late last year in 2021."

According to Tomich, more details on community health and land use impacts will not be available until state and federal environmental reports are released.

"There are direct impacts," said Tomich. "But what that final design looks like, we don't know. We expressed our concerns not to compromise our existing land use patterns and existing neighborhoods, but so far that's still on their maps."

A History of Environmental Injustice in Colton

Raquel Osnaya's home sits a few dozen feet away from BNSF's tracks that currently run near Walnut Street. She and her family have learned to live with the nuisance of the hourly BNSF and Metrolink train activity that causes their home to vibrate, Osnaya said.

"It feels like an earthquake, and at first it was quite frightening," said Osnaya in her native Spanish. "But we know these tracks have been here since the founding of this city. Railroad companies have helped build this small town."

It's been almost 30 years since the Osnaya family moved to south Colton, the 1.3-square-mile city in San Bernardino County that once served as a labor camp for the railroad companies. In the early 1900s, Mexican laborers settled near their employers and created a small community that remains today. Colton is now populated mostly by Chicano and immigrant families, who struggle with economic and health hardships.

The Osnaya family, like many families and residents that live on the city's southern end, has grown frustrated with the decades-long promises by city officials and local businesses to improve the quality of life in the area by developing more recreational spaces and housing.

"The truth is, leaders here are only concerned about wealth," said Darby Osnaya, Raquel's son, who volunteers with the Sierra Club My Generation Campaign. "Their families have spent generations living here, and yet, their decisions show that they lack pride for our city."

Henry Vasquez, a retired San Bernardino school teacher and a local historian, has family with roots in south Colton dating back to the early 1900s. He said many of his relatives and neighbors have struggled through or succumbed to respiratory illnesses and cancer caused by years of concrete demolition and railroad operations near their homes. He holds little optimism that the high-speed rail project development will be inclusive and fair for residents.

"It always ends up being a disaster," said Vasquez. "And I predict it will be the same now. I've loved the rural landscape that remains in our pocket of Colton. And I'm afraid that it is now quickly disappearing."

A Zero-Emission Railyard?

The Sierra Club, along with groups like the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ) and the People's Collective for Environmental Justice(PC4EJ), have declared they will not allow CHSRA and BNSF to continue making "sacrifice zones" out of disadvantaged communities like south Colton.

While representatives from these organizations say that they prefer that no project is built, they expect air regulators at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) to make 100% zero-emission the goal for the proposed BNSF Intermodal Facility and any other new rail yard projects.

Last year, regulators approved a mobile source rule for warehouses that requires operators to address emissions largely from diesel trucks. Now, an effort is underway by SCAQMD to create similar Indirect Source Rules for new and existing rail yard facilities to curb pollution by transitioning to cleaner locomotives, trucks and yard equipment. Air regulators are looking at renewable diesel, hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric as pathways for emissions reductions.

Advocates see the Indirect Source Rule development process as an opportunity for the SCAQMD to reduce smog pollution and protect public health by requiring the railroad and freight industry to transition switcher and line-haul locomotives, trucks that deliver freight to the rail yards and other rail yard equipment to electric.

"Rail yards, because they are mostly under federal jurisdiction, have not complied with the latest technologies to run their operations," said Yassi Kavezade, Senior Campaign Representative with the Sierra Club. "We can't continue to rely on fossil fuels, including natural gas. If we work on these policies now, we will see more availability of zero-emission technology. A lot of this technology is already here."

However, air regulators are concerned that federal preemption could come into play, which may invalidate potential rules for railyards. A prepared statement from the agency explained that SCAQMD previously adopted rules to limit the idling of trains at railyards, but they were legally challenged by the Association of American Railroads, which includes BNSF. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in that case that the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995, which helped deregulate the railroad industry, preempted the SCAQMD's rules on idling.

"Although the previously adopted rules were not as comprehensive as the proposed Indirect Source Rules, the agency is taking the lessons learned from that experience as we craft these new rules," the SCAQMD said in the emailed statement.

Kavezade and organizers with PC4EJ recently held a tour with officials at the SCAQMD, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to share concerns about railyard pollution. Many of these agencies have also written comments of concern to CHSRA about the BNSF Intermodal Yard.

Nahal Mogharabi, a spokesperson with SCAQMD, said staffing shortages at the agency have pushed back the development process for a Railyard Indirect Source Rule draft for another year. Nonetheless, they reiterated that the measure remains a "high priority" and the agency will continue to pursue incentive funding strategies that maximize emissions reductions in environmental justice communities like south Colton.

"This includes a focus on zero emissions technology where technically feasible and cost effective, as well as on other fuel types such as low NOx natural gas trucks," said Mogharabi.

Environmental justice advocates, however, argue that using natural gas for trucks will do nothing to reduce emissions and help the agency meet air quality standards.

When asked about the Colton Intermodal Yard and its expected environmental impacts, BNSF Spokesperson Lena Kent in an emailed statement shared that CHSRA was the best agency to answer questions related to the project and that the company was committed to using electric yard equipment to help reduce emissions.

"[CHSRA] is doing the draft environmental impact report and will study the truck traffic in the surrounding area," said Kent. "It is a state project, so they will need to address impacts."

According to Raquel Osnaya, her family was initially rejected by some neighbors for being transplants from Los Angeles County. Almost three decades later, she takes pride in creating her own sense of paradise amid the train noise, blight and smog that surrounds her home. She's planted dozens of plants, and has created a refuge of sorts for birds in her backyard.

"Many of those people, who had roots deep here, are now gone," said Osnaya. "But we're here to stay."