Deregulatory Announcements at the U.S. Department of Transportation: A Sign of Bigger Things to Come?
On May 29, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced more than 50 deregulatory actions at the three operating administrations of the department that focus on road transportation: the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Secretary of Transportation was quoted as saying, “my department is slashing duplicative and outdated regulations that are unnecessarily burdensome, waste taxpayer dollars, and fail to ensure safety.”
Supreme Court Makes Major Course Correction, Limiting Scope of NEPA Reviews and Demanding Judicial Deference to Agency in Uinta Basin Rail Case
In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, the Supreme Court held that under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an agency evaluating a particular project is not required to consider the effects of other future or geographically separate projects that may be built or expanded if the proposed project were approved, thus closing the door to the expansive NEPA analyses demanded by project opponents in many cases. The Court also separately stressed that the “central principle of judicial review in NEPA cases is deference,” underscoring that NEPA grants agencies discretion to determine the scope of the review and that their discretionary decisions should not be extensively second-guessed by a court. The cumulative impact of these holdings are much more than a minor course correction and should both significantly limit the scope of future NEPA analyzes and strengthen the defensibility of such analyzes in court.
SB 54 Regulations Public Comment Period Open Until June 3, 2025
CalRecycle has released amendments to the proposed regulations implementing California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54) and published its Report to the Legislature describing the program’s broader implementation. CalRecycle is accepting public comments on the proposed changes to the regulations through tomorrow, June 3, 2025.
