Opinion ID: 186266
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Driver Health

Text: 32 We hold that the final rule is arbitrary and capricious because the agency neglected to consider a statutorily mandated factor — the impact of the rule on the health of drivers. In promulgating regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety, and HOS regulations are undoubtedly on that exact subject, the FMCSA is required [a]t a minimum [to] ensure that ... the operation of commercial motor vehicles does not have a deleterious effect on the physical condition of the operators. 49 U.S.C. § 31136(a)(4). As the Supreme Court stated in State Farm, an agency's rule normally is arbitrary and capricious if it entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem before it. 436 U.S. at 43, 98 S.Ct. at 1666. A statutorily mandated factor, by definition, is an important aspect of any issue before an administrative agency, as it is for Congress in the first instance to define the appropriate scope of an agency's mission. When Congress says a factor is mandatory, that expresses its judgment that such a factor is important. In accordance with this principle, we have held that the complete absen[c]e of any discussion of a statutorily mandated factor leaves us with no alternative but to conclude that [the agency] failed to take account of this statutory limit on [its] authority, making the agency's reasoning arbitrary and capricious. United Mine Workers v. Dole, 870 F.2d 662, 673 (D.C.Cir.1989). 33 The FMCSA points to nothing in the agency's extensive deliberations establishing that it considered the statutorily mandated factor of drivers' health in the slightest. Instead, the agency states that [t]he statute does not require the agency to protect driver health to the exclusion of other considerations such as the costs and benefits of the proposed regulation. FMCSA Br. at 54-55. But neither petitioners nor the court suggests that the statute requires the agency to protect driver health to the exclusion of those factors, only that the agency must consider it. So far as the record reveals, it did not. 34 The FMCSA's only effort to show that it did consider driver health is to point out that it considered the effect of driver health on vehicle safety and to argue that consideration of the health of drivers therefore permeated the entire rulemaking process. FMCSA Br. at 55. But the statute requires the agency to consider the impact of the rule on the physical condition of the operators, not simply the impact of driver health on commercial motor vehicle safety. 49 U.S.C. § 31136(a)(4). Under the statute, vehicle safety is a distinct factor the agency must consider, so considering the effect of driver health on safety cannot be equal to considering the impact on the physical condition of the operators. Id. § 31136(a)(2), (3). It is one thing to consider whether an overworked driver is likely to drive less safely and therefore cause accidents. Whether overwork and sleep deprivation have deleterious effects on the physical health of the driver is quite another. This is not to suggest that the two factors are unrelated: healthy drivers presumably cause fewer accidents and conversely drivers who have fewer accidents suffer fewer injuries. However, the relatedness of the concept discussed to the statutorily mandated factor that the agency does not discuss does not relieve the agency of the duty of compliance with the congressional instruction. 35 It may be the case, for example, that driving for extended periods of time and sleep deprivation cause drivers long-term back problems, or harm drivers' immune systems. The agency may of course think that these and other effects on drivers are not problematic (or are outweighed by other considerations, like cost), but if so it was incumbent on it to say so in the rule and to explain why. Its failure to do so, standing alone, requires us to vacate the entire rule as arbitrary and capricious, as the agency's failure to consider this factor, to borrow a phrase from the agency's brief, permeated the entire rulemaking process.