Senate Confirms Ferro as FMCSA Chief

The U.S. Senate confirmed Anne S. Ferro as Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator yesterday, putting a former trucking association executive in charge of the nation’s truck safety watchdog at the Department of Transportation.

Ferro was confirmed, along with several other administration nominees, in a unanimous vote by 93 senators. She takes charge at FMCSA as it reopens its rulemaking on truck driver hours of service, one of the most contentious issues facing the agency.

When nominated by President Obama in June, Ferro was president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association. Before joining the MMTA in 2003, she spent 11 years with the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration, first as assistant administrator and then administrator.

She is the second former Maryland official tapped for the DOT, where she will join Deputy Secretary John Porcari, who was Maryland’s transportation secretary.

Her nomination outraged the Teamsters union and several public safety groups opposed to changes in the hours-of-service rules that Ferro supported as head of the MMTA.

At her confirmation hearing in late September, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., grilled her on electronic onboard recorders and other issues.

At her hearing, she promised to be a “fair and balanced regulator” who would use “data-driven, sound scientific research” to significantly reduce truck and bus crashes.

Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.