Cross-border Mexican truck program starts, OOIDA seeks stay

Cross-border Mexican truck program starts, OOIDA seeks stay The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents truck drivers across the nation, filed a petition Friday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for a stay of the Department of Transportation’s cross-border trucking program.
   The filing also asks the court to issue the stay until the completion of a program review. OOIDA contends the DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is implementing the border program without regard for congressional directives and legal requirements.
   “We believe we have a strong case against what is being called a pilot program, but is actually a stealthily implemented, preordained plan to fully open our highways to Mexican trucks. This is all done in the name of global economics and cheap labor,” Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA told Truckinginfo.com.
   On Sunday, two Mexican-domiciled trucks delivered loads to New York and South Carolina, becoming the first to operate under the DOT program. Operated by Monterrey, Mexico-based Transportes Olympic, the two trucks delivered steel construction material and are expected to return to Mexico after picking up similar products from Arkansas and Alabama.
   On Thursday the DOT granted Transportes Olympic authority to travel anywhere in the United States, as provided in the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a reciprocal agreement, the Mexican government issued authority to El Paso, Texas-based Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution Inc. to travel throughout Mexico.
   Two weeks ago, a similar lawsuit, filed by a group of labor union and activist organizations, was dismissed by a federal appeal's court.
   The Sierra Club and Teamsters, along with groups such as Public Citizen and OOIDA, sought an emergency stay of the DOT's one-year test program that will allow trucks from 100 pre-screened Mexican carriers to travel well beyond the current 25-mile U.S.-Mexican border restriction zone.
   Opening the U.S.-Mexican borders to trucks was mandated to occur by 2000 under the North American Free Trade Agreement signed by the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 1993. After the U.S. government failed to implement the truck provisions regarding Mexico, a NAFTA tribunal declared in 2001 that the United States must meet the provisions of the treaty regarding Mexican vehicles. Efforts in the legislature and courtrooms since 2001 have kept the Mexican trucks limited to the narrow commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border.
   The DOT announcement of the pilot program in February led to months of contentious public debate, Congressional legislation and lawsuits from business and civic groups to stop or slow the plan.
   The criticism culminated in late May, with Congress adding an amendment to an Iraq War funding bill that placed stringent criteria on any plan to allow Mexican trucks further egress into the U.S. The bill passed and was signed by the president.
   In early June, a bipartisan collection of more than 100 House members signed a letter delivered to the president expressing 'grave concerns' about the administration's continuing efforts to move the plan toward a launch date.
   Later the same month, the DOT's plans received a more serious blow, with the U.S. House voting to limit funding to the proposed program.
   The voice vote to amend the 2008 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill said 'none of the funds made available under this act may be used to establish or implement a cross-border motor carrier demonstration or pilot project or program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border.' The amendment was the third effort by Congressional representative to end the program before it began.
   The bill is earmarked for debate on the floor of the Senate before the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
   Early in August, the DOT Inspector General released a report finding that the system used to monitor Mexico-domiciled carrier drivers with license convictions is not yet adequate to meet U.S. standards. Officials still do not have the data necessary, the report said, to identify drivers not permitted to operate on U.S. highways. The report mirrored other Teamsters' concerns of the plan saying that the system designed to ensure that Mexico-domiciled carriers comply with U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing safety standards is incomplete, and it is not clear whether the drug and alcohol-testing program is functional.