Lack of Full-Time DOT Modal Administrators Hurts Safety, Efficiency, House Leaders Say
This story appears in the April 20 print edition of Transport Topics.
WASHINGTON — House transportation leaders criticized the Obama administration for letting five Department of Transportation agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, be managed by acting administrators.
That lack of full-time leadership, they argued, could hurt the efficient movement of freight and intermodal safety.
“I think that our concern, which has been voiced by many members, is with the [Obama] administration — an administration that has taken far too long on rules, an administration that has taken far too long on making sure that we have appointments that are moving forward,” Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, said during a hearing of his panel April 14.
Speaking directly to the acting administrators of the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Sarah Feinberg and Timothy Butters, respectively, Denham added: “Out of the five departments of transportation positions that have acting administrators, these two are critical to the safety of our country in making sure that we’re having goods and people movement.”
Feinberg and Butters told Denham that the administration was not currently vetting them for full-time roles at their respective agencies. Feinberg noted that she would be interested in staying in her role full time. They both deferred to the White House for nominee decisions.
Feinberg was named FRA acting administrator Jan. 9. Butters was named PHMSA acting administrator Oct. 4.
Denham was the latest lawmaker to press the White House for an announcement on nominees for DOT leadership roles. In the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) has expressed concern over FMCSA’s interim top-level leadership. FMCSA, which oversees the trucking industry, is being managed by chief counsel Scott Darling, who most recently served as acting administrator.
The Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration also are operating without full-time administrators. The White House has nominated Therese McMillan to run FTA, but it has not indicated when it would announce nominees for the other agencies.
At the hearing, Denham also blasted DOT for not moving fast enough to improve the safety of pipelines and the adoption of standards for railcars used to move crude oil.
“Why is it taking four years to come up with a new rule?” Denham said. “Four years is too long. We can’t have any more excuses on these [rules].”
Ultimately the nearly three-hour hearing shed little insight on the status of tank-car standards, which Feinberg indicated are being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget. Those standards are expected to be announced within weeks, she said.
The tank cars have received greater scrutiny after recent deadly derailments garnered media attention. The main derailments involved trains transporting crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale region.
A recent review by the National Transportation Safety Board of the derailments and explosions has added to the cause for action. In his written testimony to the subcommittee, Christopher Hart, NTSB’s chairman, “recommended that PHMSA require an aggressive, intermediate progress milestone schedule, such as a 20% yearly completion metric over a five-year implementation period, for the replacement or retrofitting of legacy” DOT-111 and CPC-1232 tank cars.
A day after the hearing, a group of House Democrats unveiled legislation requiring DOT to prohibit the use of DOT-111 and unjacketed CPC-1232 cars that move oil. The legislation, referred to the transportation committee, is similar to a bill that senators introduced in March.
