U.S. Legislative Updates

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced several new improvements to its Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) enforcement program. According to DOT, the final CSA changes will provide FMCSA with more precise information when assessing a company’s over-the-road safety performance. The changes will be implemented in December 2012 and include:

• Changing the Cargo-Related BASIC (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category) to the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC to better identify HM safety and compliance problems.
• Changing the Fatigued Driving BASIC to the more specific Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance BASIC to more accurately reflect violations in this area; and weighting HOS paper and electronic logbook violations equally.
• Clarifying definition of passenger carrier companies by:

• Adding carriers that operate for-hire 9-15 passenger vehicles and 16-plus passenger vehicles;
• Removing carriers operating only 1-8 passenger vehicles and private carriers operating 1-15 passenger vehicles such as limousines, vans and taxis.

• Removing 1 to 5 mph speeding violations to ensure citations are consistent with current speedometer regulations.
• Ensuring all recorded violations accurately reflect the inspection type (i.e., only driver violations will be recorded under driver inspections).

On Friday, August 17, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the challenges on the Environmental Protection Agency’s E15 waiver, saying that the plaintiffs did not have a legal right to challenge the EPA decision. Plaintiffs in the case included the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

In 2010, EPA issued a partial waiver that allows for the use of E15 in vehicles manufactured during or after model year 2007. In 2011, EPA expanded authorized use of E15 to include model year 2001 and later vehicles.

In its ruling, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit said trade groups presented speculative and indirect claims of harm from approval of E15. Engine manufacturers, for example, "provided almost no support for their assertion that E15 'may' damage the engines they have sold, subjecting them to liability," wrote Chief Judge David Sentelle. Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented and argued EPA was wrong in approving E15.


It is increasingly likely the Congress will wait until after the November election to decide on any extension of the fuel tax credits for biodiesel, propane and natural gas. A U.S. Senate committee has approved the extension of the biodiesel, propane and natural gas fuels tax credit through December 31, 2013 and retroactive to January 1, 2012. The Senate Finance Committee approved the extension of the fuel credits as part of a collection of expired and expiring tax provisions. What Congress does next depends on what if anything the congressional leadership decides to do regarding tax legislation. General consensus seems to be it will not happen until Congress reconvenes after the elections for the "lame-duck session."


The Obama Administration has finalized standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025. The standards issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on August 28 build on the standards for cars and light trucks for Model Years 2011-2016. Those standards raised average fuel efficiency by 2016 to the equivalent of 35.5 mpg.

The final standards were developed by DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and EPA following extensive engagement with automakers, the United Auto Workers, consumer groups, environmental and energy experts, states, and the public.

In achieving these new standards, EPA and NHTSA expect automakers’ to use a range of efficient and advanced technologies to transform the vehicle fleet. The standards provide for a mid-term evaluation to allow the agencies to review their effectiveness and make any needed adjustments.

The program also includes targeted incentives to encourage early adoption and introduction into the marketplace of advanced technologies to dramatically improve vehicle performance, including: incentives for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cells vehicles; incentives for hybrid technologies for large pickups and for other technologies that achieve high fuel economy levels on large pickups; and incentives for natural gas vehicles.