ATLANTA - A prominent transportation lawyer has strongly criticized federal safety and environmental regulators, saying they are failing both in enforcing their own regulations and developing workable regulations.

"It's sad to report but it's very, very true that federal agencies are unable to deal with the important transportation issues that are before them," said John Bagileo, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has specialized in transportation issues for more than 40 years.

"Something is very broken on the federal side, and it's causing many of the problems we see, and forcing the states to do things," he said. "What the federal government is not doing, the states are trying to do," he added.

One bit of evidence he cited was the problems the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has had in implementing revised hours-of-service regulations for truckers. FMCSA has lost twice in federal courts on the HOS rule - and could be headed for a third loss, says Bagileo.

"I have never seen an agency reversed twice."

He said the HOS rule ultimately could be fashioned by Congress. "And that's not something you want to happen."

"It's not that the FMCSA does not have knowledgeable people," Bagileo said. "The problem is they don't have expertise in the industry."

Likewise, FMCSA issued its first driver-training rule in 2004 but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the rule and sent it back to the agency for further consideration. On Dec. 27, the agency issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on the issue and has asked for public comment.

Bagileo also was critical of FMCSA for failing to administer serious punishment to commercial vehicle operators who are safety violators.

"An unsafe carrier gets caught, simply closes its doors, files a two-page, $300 application, and within 30 days is up and running as another carrier," Bagileo said. "They (the FMCSA) may find out who violates the law but they do nothing about it."

In the 1960s, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the predecessor to the FMCSA, did a good job regulating railroads, motor carriers, water carriers and pipelines with only 1,800 employees, Bagileo said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation employs about 10,000 people and "simply cannot do the job they're assigned," he said.

By his count, he said, 51 lawsuits have been filed in various courts in the United States, alleging truckers have broken antitrust laws by conspiring to set fuel surcharge rates.

The central focus of the allegations is that by publishing their fuel-surcharge rates on the Internet, carriers were signaling to one another what they should charge their customers.

"There's no proof of any of this," he said. "I believe the carriers will prevail in the end, but the shame of it is that it will take millions of dollars and a considerable period of time to get to that point."

He said the accusers "just don't understand the industry."