The Nickel Report

On April 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation and certain operating administrations issued a final rule that is likely to result in deregulation and increased opportunities for regulated communities to engage with agency decision-making. This rule reinstates and updates certain procedural requirements governing agency rulemaking, guidance, and enforcement actions. Importantly, this final rule spans across much of DOT and has far-reaching implications for how the Department and its operating administrations conduct enforcement actions and develop regulations and guidance for regulated parties. This final rule is effective on May 27, 2026.

Among the changes, the proposed rule would amend Hazardous Materials Regulations to treat sodium ion batteries in a manner similar to the way lithium ion batteries are regulated.

On February 10, 2026, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to adopt certain international regulations and standards concerning proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quality limitations, and vessel stowage requirements. Notably, in this NPRM, PHMSA recognizes the increased use of sodium ion batteries and proposes various changes to regulate them in the same manner as lithium ion batteries.

Going green has gone mainstream. Perhaps nowhere is this more pronounced than in the automotive industry. J.P. Morgan estimates that, by 2030, electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids will make up 59 percent of the global market share, up from about 1 percent in 2015. What may be the most important feature of the EV revolution is its power source: lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. They are not new; they have been powering cell phones and computers for years. What is new is their large-scale use to power automobiles (and, some day, trucks and buses) and significantly reduce emissions. As our colleagues Samuel L. Brown and Lauren A. Bachtel note in an article to be published in the ABA’s Natural Resource & Environment magazine, components of Li-ion batteries include metals (e.g., lithium, cobalt, nickel) that are costly to extract and process. As demand for them increases, pressure to re-use or recycle batteries will increase.