9th Cir.;
15-7-754

The court of appeals denied petitions for review. The court held that Department of Transportation findings that Mexico-based motor carriers could operate safely in the U.S. constituted agency action exempt from judicial review.

In the latest chapter of a long-running dispute between Mexico and the United States over Mexico-domiciled trucking companies' U.S. operations, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed a law that authorized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the Department of Transportation (DOT), to grant permits to Mexico-domiciled trucking companies so long as the trucking companies complied with U.S. safety requirements. Congress later passed a law requiring the Department of Transportation to implement a pilot program to ensure that Mexico-domiciled trucks would not make the roads more dangerous. The FMCSA undertook a pilot program in which 13 carriers participated. In January 2015, the FMCSA issued a report finding that Mexico-domiciled motor carriers conducting long-haul operations in the United States operated at a level of safety “equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety of U.S. and Canada-domiciled motor carriers.” The FMCSA thereafter began granting permits for U.S. long-haul operations to Mexico-domiciled trucking companies.