Railroad Regulatory Agencies

Rail is the most heavily relied upon form of transportation in the coal industry in the U.S. This is because trains can transport large amounts of coal over key geographic areas. The Surface Transportation Board oversees the economic aspects of freight rail such as rates, service obligations, and access. The Federal Rail Administration regulates rail safety under the U.S. Department of Transportation, including track conditions, equipment standards, and operational practices. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the air emissions of new locomotives and engines, with states regulating existing and older locomotives and engines. This applies specifically to engine emissions and does not cover non-engine emissions like fugitive dust from train cars, including coal-carrying railcars.

Surface Transportation Board (STB)

Role

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is an independent federal agency responsible for the regulation of the economic aspects of freight railroads, including oversight of rail rates, service disputes, mergers, and access to rail infrastructure. The STB is supposed to ensure fair competition between railroad companies, resolve shipper complaints, and adjudicate matters related to common carrier obligations. The STB operates as a regulatory authority that issues binding decisions on disputes and policy matters, shaping how railroads fulfill their service obligations, set rates, and provide access under federal law.

The STB has jurisdiction over railroad rates, practices, service issues, and rail restructuring transactions like mergers, line sales, line construction, and line abandonments. STB oversees railroad company mergers, such as the proposed deal between Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific in 2025. The STB also has jurisdiction over certain passenger rail matters, the intercity bus industry, non-energy pipelines, carriers' tariffs on household goods, and rate regulation of marine freight shipping.

Relevance

The STB's jurisdiction over the economic operations of freight railroads includes coal shipments to terminals in the Port of Virginia and through the Dominion Terminal Associates, Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals, and Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal. CSX and Norfolk Southern must comply with common carrier obligations, even when their operations generate adverse effects in surrounding communities. The STB has authority to hear service-related complaints and to require railroads to disclose data about shipments, access, and conditions of service. These powers place the agency in a position to adjudicate disputes involving coal transport by rail and its impacts, potentially including community concerns about dust emissions along rail corridors.

Office of Environmental Analysis

The STB Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) is responsible for directing the environmental review process as related to STB's activities. This involves conducting independent analysis as related to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) when proposed rail operations or rail infrastructure changes could have significant environmental impacts. This evaluation includes evaluating air quality and community health concerns.

The last time the OEA conducted an environmental review in the Hampton Roads region was in 1998 when CSX and Norfolk Southern agreed to acquire and split the assets of Conrail. While the OEA has the authority to review environmentally significant rail proposals, it has not yet directly applied NEPA analysis to freight coal operations or their dust emissions.

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)

Role

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is a U.S. Department of Transportation agency responsible for enforcing rail safety regulations, overseeing railroad infrastructure, and making sure the transport of hazardous materials is secure. The FRA also develops and implements policies aimed to improve rail system reliability and safety, monitors compliance with federal standards, and collaborates with states and industries to minimize risks across the U.S. rail network.

The FRA creates, revises, and enforces regulations, as well as conducts inspections into accidents, safety audits, technical assistance, and data collection and analysis. For example, the FRA investigated and issued reports and safety bulletins on two recent serious injuries at the Norfolk Southern Pier 6 Terminal in 2024. FRA is also responsible for outreach to and partnerships with state and local governments and other stakeholders, and research and development into safety technologies. The FRA promotes the development of the freight, passenger, and commuter rail network through grant programs.

Relevance

The FRA has recognized that coal dust from uncovered railcars can compromise track stability and weaken and prevent water from draining from the ballast, which is the material that composes the trackbed on which the railroad ties are positioned. This can destabilize the tracks and cause train derailments, for example, in 2005, coal dust accumulation contributed to the derailment of trains on two separate occasions in the coal-mining region of the Powder River Basin in the western U.S. As of June 2012, there had been six major coal train derailments, causing fatalities and spilling coal and polluting the local soil and water.

Following the 2005 derailments in the Powder River Basin, Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) Railroad, FRA, and STB investigated the effects of coal dust on railroad tracks. BNSF and the FRA and STB concluded that coal dust poses a serious problem for railroad safety and operations.

BNSF Report: "Coal dust poses a serious threat to the stability of the track structure and thus to the operational integrity of [the] lines"

STB Report: "Coal dust is a particularly harmful contaminant of ballast... [and] interferes with track stability to a much greater extent than other contaminants present... Even if the amount of coal dust varies."

Documents

• Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation—Petition for Declaratory Order, Surface Transportation Board, Decision, Docket No. Fd 35305, March 2, 2011
• Trimming, Derailing Powder River Basin Coal Exports: Legal Mechanisms to Regulate Fugitive Coal Dust From Rail Transportation, Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal, 6, 2, Pacific Region Edition, 7, June 2013
• Safety Bulletin, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Railroad Safety, 2024-05, September 3, 2024
• Safety Bulletin, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Railroad Safety, 2024-06, September 19, 2024
• Norfolk Southern Railway Conductor Injury, National Transportation Safety Board, Railroad Investigation Report: RIR-25-10, July 7, 2025