States say trucks from Mexico pose threat to air.

San Diego Union-Tribune | 3.14.04 | Coply News Service

[w-pat]

States say trucks from Mexico pose threat to air They call for court to require studies of traffic's impact

WASHINGTON, March 13 (COPLEY NEWS SERVICE) The attorneys general for California and eight other states filed briefs with the Supreme Court yesterday, opposing the Bush administration's effort to open U.S. roads to Mexican trucks without air-quality studies.

The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments April 21 on the administration's request to review a lower court order that prevented Mexican trucks from using U.S. highways without the environmental studies. A decision is expected in June.

[w-pat]

PEMEX is really bad. Many of the trucks themselves are really bad.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

They'd probably run better on oil refined in the USA.

[azhenfud]

Fair is fair. The FedGov and Califoreignia set high automobile pollution standards - if Messican vehicles can escape the requirement, the government should lose its enforcement powers over citizens' vehicles.

Frankly, I'm sick of hearing about President Bush's capitulations to Fox on just about every issue that protects Americans from becoming a tird-whirled country like Messico.

[martin_fierro]

"I left my lung / in Mexico Ciiiiity....."

[1rudeboy]

Darn Mexican trucks. Keep them off the roads. Ours pollute better.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[metoooo]

ban mexican trucks...they pollute the air

[Ditter]

Obviously you haven't done any driving in Mexico or you wouldn't be saying this.

[1rudeboy]

Nor, apparently, have you done any driving in Chicago or NW Indiana.

[Liberty Valance]

Trucks from Mexico are loud...their fumes stink terribly and they are always overloaded. They should only be allowed to offload within 20 or so miles from the border and then return. They are a hazard to safety and health.

[Ditter]

You are wrong there. I have made 3 round trips from Houston to central Michigan, the last one 2 years ago. We took various highways in the area you mention over the 6 trips. Lots of trucks but they can't hold a candle to the pollution & the decrepit condition of Mexican trucks in Mexico.

[gubamyster]

ping

[junta]

Bye, bye American trucking companies no one can afford to stay in America meet our rules and compete. Every company will need Mexican registered trucks complete with doped up non-citizens driving 48 hours straight on every run. Its gonna be a disaster. Bush should ask ex govenor Ryan of IL what mixing illegal Mexican aliens with trucks means to ones career.

[B4Ranch]

ping

[1rudeboy]

Of course, the trucks to which you refer wouldn't be used for long-haul, or allowed to operate without penalty in the U.S.

[Dante3]

Someone should contact the true environmentalists, not the fakes at Sierra Club who want more immigrants.

[w-pat]

Re Post 10. Exactly correct. PEMEX is a foul, acrid cloud emitting from road dangerous vehicles. Also, vehicles/drivers from Mexico have no insurance. They cause accidents (fatal ones included) here and go back across border. Our government refuses to do anything. With this latest deal pending, Bush is again on his knees to Fox (Kerry would be no better). The more we give to Mexico, the more they demand. This has been going on since after WWII. But, of course, their citizens vote in our elections.

[Ditter]

Oh of course not! The Mexican trucks would all be new, in good repair with highly trained drivers who have had plenty of sleep. They would be well regulated & would follow ALL the rules of the American road. Sure.

[w-pat]

Full article re Mexican trucks:

States say trucks from Mexico pose threat to air





They call for court to require studies of traffic's impact
By Joe Cantlupe
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

March 13, 2004

WASHINGTON – The attorneys general for California and eight other states filed briefs with the Supreme Court yesterday, opposing the Bush administration's effort to open U.S. roads to Mexican trucks without air-quality studies.

The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments April 21 on the administration's request to review a lower court order that prevented Mexican trucks from using U.S. highways without the environmental studies. A decision is expected in June.

The Bush administration hopes to open the United States to Mexican truck traffic within a year to abide by the North American Free Trade Agreement. But federal transportation officials said extensive delays could result if the air quality study requirement is upheld by the Supreme Court.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January 2003 that the Bush administration violated environmental law when it announced the previous November that it planned to open U.S. highways to long-haul trucks from Mexico without the air-impact studies.

Until the Supreme Court makes a decision, there is a moratorium on the Mexican trucks entering the United States.

In briefs filed yesterday, attorneys general from California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin said they believed the air-quality reviews are necessary under the federal Clean Air Act.

"In such states as California, Arizona and Texas, where the trucks would drive through areas designated as having 'serious,' 'severe' or 'extreme' ozone pollution, the additional contribution from the trucks would worsen an already critical air pollution problem," the attorneys general briefs said.

Officials of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is overseeing the Mexican truck issue, said an air-impact study was not required in the NAFTA-related decision. Because the Supreme Court is considering the issue, however, federal transportation officials have begun a review of air-quality impacts following public hearings around the nation, in case the high court decides against them.

Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson said Mexico "asserts that its country has suffered economic damages in the billions of dollars from the moratorium on cross-border operations."

The Bush administration argued that the 9th Circuit's decision "constrained the president's discretion to conduct foreign affairs."

The attorneys general and environmental groups said the environmental study was needed because of the possibility of increased air pollution from Mexican trucks.

"This action is not anti-free trade, anti-NAFTA or anti-Mexico," said Bill Lockyer, the California attorney general. "This is about protecting our residents' health and making sure the federal government fulfills its statutory duty to help states achieve those objectives."

An independent study found that Mexican trucks operating in California's Imperial Valley would increase nitrogen oxide emissions in that region by almost one-third of a ton each day, Lockyer said in a report to federal authorities.

"Our children increasingly suffer from asthma," Lockyer said. "And states struggle to meet clean-air mandates set by the federal government. All we're asking is that the Bush administration comply with the law and fully study the potential environmental damage that would be caused by allowing higher-polluting trucks to travel freely on our highways."

Critics say that most trucks used to haul freight from Mexico are older and less subject to systematic emissions controls. They also say these trucks would be more likely to pollute than those based in the United States.

"Places like Houston and Los Angeles already suffer from strangling smog," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, the public interest group that filed the lawsuit against federal transportation officials. "The federal government should be obeying the laws designed to curtail pollution."

Public Citizen said that at least 30,000 Mexico-based diesel trucks would enter the United States in one year, including many older vehicles that are polluters.

Other plaintiffs include the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the California Trucking Association.

Currently, about 8,500 Mexican trucking companies are allowed to operate in commercial zones in the United States that extend about 75 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

[Happy2BMe]

"The attorneys general for California and eight other states filed briefs with the Supreme Court yesterday, opposing the Bush administration's effort to open U.S. roads to Mexican trucks without air-quality studies."

Dubya done grabbed hold of another monster's tail ping.

Anybody seen one of those "chartered" Mexico tourist buses? I had the opportunity to follow one about a mile through road construction last week. The body of the coach looked like a newer 2002 -2003 model. It smoked diesel like a Soviet T34 - black smoke and soot like you wouldn't believe.

They seem to have "different" emission standards down there . .