Groups Ask Court To Block US From Opening Roads To Mexican Truckers
Environmental, labor and trucking groups filed Monday for an emergency injunction to stop the Bush
administration from opening U.S. roadways to Mexican truckers, claiming that the move would substantially
increase diesel emissions in areas already suffering from poor air quality, such as Los Angeles.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco gave the government until Wednesday to respond.
At the same time, legislators and a trucking association in Mexico bristled at regulations they said were
tougher on Mexican truckers than on those from Canada and urged their government to limit the entry of U.S.
trucks in retaliation.
President Bush directed transportation officials last week to begin processing permit applications from
Mexico-based trucking firms, signaling an end to a 1982 regulation that restricted such trucks to commercial
zones within 20 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Trucks could start rolling north as early as the middle of the
month.
The U.S. government had been under pressure to allow the flow of trucks in order to comply with the North
American Free Trade Agreement, and the subject may have been raised at a meeting last month between
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Mexican President Vicente Fox.
"This administration has consistently expressed its support for full compliance with NAFTA," White House
spokeswoman Clare Buchan said Monday. "This has been in the works for some time."
But opponents of the rule change said the timing, coming just before the four-day Thanksgiving holiday, was
intended to mute criticism.
"There's going to be trucking people hurt on both sides of the border," said Armando Freire of San
Diego-based Dimex Trucking. With his fleet of 20 trucks, Freire primarily picks up loads from Mexican firms at
the border and delivers them to Los Angeles.
"They do their part, I do mine and everybody's happy," he said. "Now all of the sudden we lose control of the
freight because a carrier can take that to L.A. for one-third the cost."
Small operators in Mexico also had argued against the rule change, fearing that U.S.-based corporations
would consolidate the trucking industry, turning them from independent operators to employees.
In the U.S., opposition to the rule change came from many quarters, leading to the unlikely coalition behind
Monday's court filing.
That group includes the Environmental Law Foundation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the
California Trucking Assn. Both the Teamsters and the trucking group face competition from Mexico for jobs
and trucking contracts if the rule change is not blocked.
In May, the same group filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to stop the rule change,
arguing that the Bush administration skirted the environmental review process and demanding a full
assessment of the effect of Mexican trucks operating throughout the U.S.
Oral arguments were heard in early October and a ruling is expected soon. Al Meyerhoff, an attorney for the
coalition, said he was stunned when he heard of the administration's announcement Wednesday, given that
the suit is unresolved. The brief filed Monday argued that no change should proceed until the court decides
whether a more detailed assessment of environmental effects is needed.
"The whole point of conducting the environmental reviews is to allow the government to take environmental
effects into account before making the operative decision and putting it into effect," the filing said.
The plaintiffs argue that Mexican trucks pollute more than do U.S. rigs because of less stringent air-quality
standards in Mexico and because the trucks tend to be older.
Proponents of the change counter that Mexican trucks are subject to the same environmental and safety
regulations as U.S. trucks.
Despite the uproar, the American Trucking Assn., which has favored the rule change, contends that there will
be little immediate consequence. "It's going to be an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process," said
Martin Rojas, director for cross-border operations for the Virginia-based group. He noted that only 130
Mexican firms have applied for permits to operate in the U.S. Of those, 60 have been approved pending audits.
"In Mexico, a very large company has 150 trucks," Rojas said. "There are about 2.6 million Class A trucks in
the United States. We're talking about a speck in the trucking universe of the United States."
Mexican truckers agreed that few would immediately take advantage of the opening, largely because of safety
restrictions imposed by Congress last summer. According to CANACAR, the largest Mexican trucking
association, only about 30,000 of the 140,000 trucks it represents meet U.S. safety and environmental
standards for hauling cargo north of the border.
Environmental, labor and trucking groups filed Monday for an emergency injunction to stop the Bush
administration from opening U.S. roadways to Mexican truckers, claiming that the move would substantially
increase diesel emissions in areas already suffering from poor air quality, such as Los Angeles.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco gave the government until Wednesday to respond.
At the same time, legislators and a trucking association in Mexico bristled at regulations they said were
tougher on Mexican truckers than on those from Canada and urged their government to limit the entry of U.S.
trucks in retaliation.
President Bush directed transportation officials last week to begin processing permit applications from
Mexico-based trucking firms, signaling an end to a 1982 regulation that restricted such trucks to commercial
zones within 20 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Trucks could start rolling north as early as the middle of the
month.
The U.S. government had been under pressure to allow the flow of trucks in order to comply with the North
American Free Trade Agreement, and the subject may have been raised at a meeting last month between
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Mexican President Vicente Fox.
"This administration has consistently expressed its support for full compliance with NAFTA," White House
spokeswoman Clare Buchan said Monday. "This has been in the works for some time."
But opponents of the rule change said the timing, coming just before the four-day Thanksgiving holiday, was
intended to mute criticism.
"There's going to be trucking people hurt on both sides of the border," said Armando Freire of San
Diego-based Dimex Trucking. With his fleet of 20 trucks, Freire primarily picks up loads from Mexican firms at
the border and delivers them to Los Angeles.
"They do their part, I do mine and everybody's happy," he said. "Now all of the sudden we lose control of the
freight because a carrier can take that to L.A. for one-third the cost."
Small operators in Mexico also had argued against the rule change, fearing that U.S.-based corporations
would consolidate the trucking industry, turning them from independent operators to employees.
In the U.S., opposition to the rule change came from many quarters, leading to the unlikely coalition behind
Monday's court filing.
That group includes the Environmental Law Foundation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the
California Trucking Assn. Both the Teamsters and the trucking group face competition from Mexico for jobs
and trucking contracts if the rule change is not blocked.
In May, the same group filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to stop the rule change,
arguing that the Bush administration skirted the environmental review process and demanding a full
assessment of the effect of Mexican trucks operating throughout the U.S.
Oral arguments were heard in early October and a ruling is expected soon. Al Meyerhoff, an attorney for the
coalition, said he was stunned when he heard of the administration's announcement Wednesday, given that
the suit is unresolved. The brief filed Monday argued that no change should proceed until the court decides
whether a more detailed assessment of environmental effects is needed.
"The whole point of conducting the environmental reviews is to allow the government to take environmental
effects into account before making the operative decision and putting it into effect," the filing said.
The plaintiffs argue that Mexican trucks pollute more than do U.S. rigs because of less stringent air-quality
standards in Mexico and because the trucks tend to be older.
Proponents of the change counter that Mexican trucks are subject to the same environmental and safety
regulations as U.S. trucks.
Despite the uproar, the American Trucking Assn., which has favored the rule change, contends that there will
be little immediate consequence. "It's going to be an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process," said
Martin Rojas, director for cross-border operations for the Virginia-based group. He noted that only 130
Mexican firms have applied for permits to operate in the U.S. Of those, 60 have been approved pending audits.
"In Mexico, a very large company has 150 trucks," Rojas said. "There are about 2.6 million Class A trucks in
the United States. We're talking about a speck in the trucking universe of the United States."
Mexican truckers agreed that few would immediately take advantage of the opening, largely because of safety
restrictions imposed by Congress last summer. According to CANACAR, the largest Mexican trucking
association, only about 30,000 of the 140,000 trucks it represents meet U.S. safety and environmental
standards for hauling cargo north of the border.
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