Hoffa Questions Bush Administration Plan for Cross-Border Trucking

Hoffa Questions Bush Administration Plan for Cross-Border Trucking

Statement by James P. Hoffa, General President

December 17, 2002

In the war on terrorism, President Bush has emphasized the importance of homeland security, even creating a cabinet-level department to address this vital challenge. Yet by flinging open our southern frontier to cross-border trucking at this time, he has set the stage for compromising our security, trashing the environment and threatening the livelihood of American workers.

As a condition for opening the border under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Department of Transportation was to issue regulations governing the process. But in doing so, the agency ignored the National Environmental Policy Act, and with no meaningful facts to back it up, the agency found “no significant impact” and insisted that opening the border would not harm the environment. This, despite studies showing that Mexican trucks on average generate 150 percent more smog-forming nitrogen oxide and 200 percent more dangerous particulate matter than U.S. trucks.

In addition, there is no system in place to systematically inspect the emissions of trucks coming over the border from Mexico. These trucks may also be exempt from a 1998 settlement with manufacturers requiring U.S. trucks to remove “defeat devices” that permit them to test clean at inspection sites but run dirty on the highway.

To oppose this threat to public health, a collection of environmental, labor and business organizations, including the Teamsters Union, Public Citizen, the Environmental Law Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit last May in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

But President Bush indicated that he would not wait on the court's action. On November 27, he lifted the moratorium on Mexican trucks traveling throughout the United States. The court is considering a request by our coalition for an emergency stay until the environmental impact of the decision can be fully assessed.

Yet the dangers posed by cross-border trucking are by no means limited to air quality. Last January, the U.S. General Accounting Office confirmed that Mexican truck safety isn't up to U.S. standards. The agency found that the U.S. lacks sufficient inspection resources at the border to ensure the safety of the American traveling public, and that Mexico lacks adequate standards and enforcement to ensure the safety of its own trucking system.

The implications for homeland security are staggering. Last May, nearly eight tons of sodium cyanide disappeared from a truck hijacked in Hidalgo, about 100 miles north of Mexico City. Because of their low pay and long hours, Mexican drivers will continue to be vulnerable to mercenary offers from parties that may have more than larceny on their minds.

“Free trade” is nothing more than snake oil when two countries don’t apply the same set of rules, and tens of thousands of American workers will pay the price. By bowing to extremist laissez-faire ideology, President Bush has placed the future of homeland security and public health in the hands of exploited and poorly trained Mexican drivers.