Nuclear Information & Resource Service v. United States Department of Transportation Research & Special Programs Administration

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Committee to Bridge the Gap, Public Citizen, Inc., Redwood Alliance, and Sierra Club (collectively NIRS) appeal the district court’s dismissal of NIRS’s challenge to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) rulemaking for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court held that the court of appeals has exclusive jurisdiction under 49 U.S.C. § 20114 (c), which provides that any proceeding to review a final action of the Secretary of Transportation under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA), “as applicable to railroad safety,” shall be brought in the courts of appeals pursuant to the Hobbs Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2341-2351 . We agree with the district court that because the challenged DOT rule regulates transportation of hazardous materials by rail, as well as by other modes of transportation, exclusive jurisdiction lies in the courts of appeals. We affirm.

I

DOT is authorized to designate material as hazardous and to prescribe regulations for the safe transportation of such material. 49 U.S.C. § 5103 (a), (b)(1). Under this authority, DOT has issued its Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR), which regulate the shipment…