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.
Right...just like speaking English is a requirement to become a US citizen.
Mexican airliners, as do airliners of many countries do not fly to American airports as you falsely suggest. They are allowed to fly into a port of entry and then they depart the United States. So take your straw man and restuff him Mr. Logician.
So you think that a socialist system, which rewards inefficiency and punishes entrepreneurship, might be superior to the capitalist system we (for the most part) have in America?
You'll be welcomed warmly over at DU.
And just wait until these Mexican drivers in their unsafe trucks start "bringing over" entire families.
Thanks to our government which obviously doesn’t care about us; there will be more death and destruction on our highways.
Sorry, just the way I see it.
Yep, while they are drunk, on drugs or hauling those illegals as fast as they can.
Boy, I am mean today.
” 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.
Not all equal.
Airlines good
Oil good
Mexican truckers will bring in:
drugs
illegals
cause more fatalities
take more American jobs.
“If, by chance, you just plain don’t like Mexicans, just say so. We understand.”
Honestly, of all the insipid posts to me, yours takes the cake, hands down!
One of my 2 business partners, Mr. Cota, was born in San Carlos. We are building in San Carlos. I am going to have a home in San Carlos.
Have a nice day.
In all seriousness, don’t you expect that even Mexicans will have figured out a way to fill their trucks for the return trip? It’s not really something we on Free Republic need to worry about.”
No, and yes, it is. We need to stop looking the other way and assuming that someone will make decisions in our best interests. We know only too well that that is not true. Citizens have the right and the responsibility to be watchdogs.
It will be a simple financial calculation. How much will we make minus the amount we have to pay to settle each case plus the cost of paying off politicians. If they make more than it costs to hell with the public. Congress will follow the money. Until We the People wake up and reform Congress we are nothing more than corporate slaves. We have become an oligarchy not a Republic.
Every person injured or killed by these truckers is another person that did not have to be injured or killed. Just like all those being murdered, assaulted, raped, by illegals now, this just adds to the mix.
Don't we have enough problems with home grown crime and home grown traffic injuries and fatalities? Evidently not to GWB, not to Congress, not to illegal activists.
Here is an idea: Since we already have a huge drug problem in this country, why not send word out to all of Asia that we will take in all their addicts now.
And how about our rape problem in this country? Easy: Send word to the rest of the world that we now take in every rapist there is. Might as well give up on the problem and make it worse.
Sound extreme? Not really.
GWB, I supported you way back, but on border security and all dealings with Mexico on south, you are the worst President in US history.
“Until We the People wake up and reform Congress we are nothing more than corporate slaves. We have become an oligarchy not a Republic.”
That covers it. Great tagline :-)
Kidnappings of US truckers in Mexico will rise. Deaths on US highways will also rise.
“For the unionists who are fearful of competition, no doubt it is.”
I’m certainly no fan of the unions but thats not a fair statement. The playing field is not level. The mexican companies and ports can certainly undercut the US because they don’t have to comply with all the regulations. Their trucks don’t need safety inspections or even routine maintenance.
“For consumers, manufacturers, the retail industry, and the majority of Americans, having Mexican trucks on American highways will eventually be a great benefit.”
How, because of lower prices? I’ll pay a dollar extra if it means my kids won’t be killed by a drugged up trucker without brakes.
“Just as having Mexican airliners flying to American airports is,”
Airlines have to comply with FCC regulations to land in the US. Again not a equal comparison.
“Mexican oil flowing to American refineries has been for many decades.”
Mexican oil flowing through american pipelines or ships. Bzzzzz, please try again.
“Kidnappings of US truckers in Mexico will rise. Deaths on US highways will also rise”
American jobs will be lost too.
Drive your truck across the border...abandon it and infiltrate into the country. Couldn’t be much simpler, could it?
I think you are.
If you go to the Mexicana Vacation Packages page, you will find that entering a US city as your departure point, only Mexican destinations will be available to choose from. The reverse in not true, as Mexicana is the principle airline in Mexico.
Whether one travels on Mexicana to Cancun or on a US carrier is a matter of personal choice. Would you deny them that choice?
You're running this cover? Why? We all heard that from the radical leftist and Communist early on in this violent invasion of America. That was the tool used.
What's your real motive here? Profits regardless of consequences?
Knowledge of common highway safety techniques, like proper braking, turn signaling, and structural integrity will of course be optional. Don't want to insult the Mexican government, don-cha-know.
Are they certified for HazMat? Wait until they spill one of those babies!
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