Posted on 09/01/2007 11:04:13 AM PDT by Reagan Man
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative.
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco late on Friday denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling.
The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers.
The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement approved broader access for ground shipments from both countries but the Clinton administration never complied with the trucking provision. A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001.
"This is the wrong decision for working men and women," Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said in a statement after the court ruling. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law." The Teamsters represents truckers that would be affected by the change.
The emergency stay was sought on grounds the administration's pilot program had not satisfied the U.S. Congress' requirements on safety and other issues. But the appeals court ruled otherwise.
SAFETY ASPECTS
The administration plans to start the program on September 6. Transportation Department officials hope to receive final clearance early next week from the department's inspector general's office, which is reviewing its safety aspects, and finalize details with Mexican authorities.
The Mexican government must grant reciprocal access to U.S. trucks under NAFTA. That provision is not expected to be a problem, regulators said.
Mexican trucks operating in the United States have for years been restricted to U.S. points near certain large border crossings where their goods are transferred to trucks owned by U.S. firms.
Under the pilot program, Mexican long haul trucking companies that have met safety, licensing, and other U.S. requirements will be allowed to operate their rigs throughout the country. Proponents say this will reduce costs and speed up shipments.
Trucking regulators said in a court filing the goal is to gradually accommodate 100 Mexican trucking companies by the end of the pilot program, or roughly 540 large trucks.
But opponents said those figures do not reflect the number of companies that could seek access to U.S. roads if the pilot is successful, which they said raises safety concerns.
"This (pilot) program is basically a show trial. They haven't provided notice up front about who will participate. You just don't know what the program will look like," said Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, attorney for Public Citizen.
Public Citizen and the Teamsters still plan to proceed with a lawsuit they filed in federal court, challenging the Mexican truck program on broader grounds. That case will not likely be decided until next year.
Trucks from Canada have no operating restrictions in the United States.
This is REAL bad news!!
Have a real laugh!
“Truck drivers will be required to read, speak English”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889904/posts
Viva Jorge!
/s
George W. Bush is Mexico’s greatest president ever.
Just what America needs, tens of thousands more tractor trailers driven by people from the most corrupt country on earth.
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them trucks movin’ Rawhide!
Don’t try to understand ‘em,
Just jamm’em and gear’em and clutch’em,
Soon we’ll be living high and wide.
Boy my heart’s calculatin’
My true love will be waitin’,
be waiting at the end of my ride.
Just wait until these Mexican drivers in there unsafe trucks start running over entire families, killing people by the dozens.
I recall one that flipped his tractor trailer spilling tons of cargo across 5 lanes of freeway, backing up traffic for 8 hours, in a 40 mile backup...And you know what this SOB did? He ran from the scene and was found hiding in a construction site. Drugs and weapons were found in the tractor.
If you’ve got a rig in the U.S. it’s value just become $0.10 cents.
The move to allow Mexican trucking in to the United States goes beyond what most people think of, just traveling to a destination and dumping a load. Once the truch is empty, these truckers will be able to reload in the U.S. and take that load back toward their border entry point.
There is also the possibility that they can simply begin service in the United States, seldom returning to where the truck is registered.
This may (I’m not firm on all the particulars) be an opening of the border for all intents and purposes as it applies to trucking.
Will Mexican trucking firms undercut all U.S. based truckers? Will those truckers suffer the same fates as manufacturing workers in the U.S.?
Time will tell.
I do not approve of the Mexican truckers being given access to our nation.
Every American killed by these Mexican trucks is a homicide committed by GWB and our government.
I wonder what kind of excuse these idiots will have when all the death and destruction caused by Mexican truck drivers becomes a daily news cycle?
Any inspection programs? I thought not.
Talk about an open door for terrorists?... Border fence?... No longer needed. Welcome to another third world outpost called the AU.
I work in logistics for Schneider National and I’ll be keeping my eye on this. Many of my carriers in the South may be impacted.
“Special Tribunal ordered...”
Anotherwords, we are not allowed self rule on this matter.
Another aspect of sovereignty just went up in smoke.
For the unionists who are fearful of competition, no doubt it is.
For consumers, manufacturers, the retail industry, and the majority of Americans, having Mexican trucks on American highways will eventually be a great benefit. Just as having Mexican airliners flying to American airports is, and Mexican oil flowing to American refineries has been for many decades.
If, by chance, you just plain don't like Mexicans, just say so. We understand.
One way or another...The ruling elite have to wait to push their amnesty down our throats, and they will try it againn, making U.S. borders all but pointless...
So the next best thing is just open our borders to Mexican unsafe trucks that will have nothing but cargo's of trouble.
>A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001.<
A tribunal from whom? Congress, Mexico, GHWB?
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Unions my a$$.
We have these Mexicans smuggling in hundreds of tons of drugs EVERY YEAR, not to mention illegal human cargo by the tens of thousands...And Lord knows what else.
And suggest some American labor union is the problem?
Sheesh!
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