SENATE COMMITTEE EXAMINES PLAN FOR MEXICAN TRUCKS ENTERING U.S.

SENATE COMMITTEE EXAMINES PLAN FOR MEXICAN TRUCKS ENTERING U.S.    A government official on Thursday recommended that Mexican trucks authorized by the North American Free Trade Agreement to enter the United States should pass intensive quarterly inspections.
   “Each and every long-haul truck must be inspected every 90 days,” said Kenneth Mead, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, during testimony at a joint hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the Appropriations Committee. “The more likely the chance of inspection, the better the conditions of the vehicle.”
   NAFTA provisions allow for Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. for long-haul operations after governmental procedures are completed.
   Mead submitted a report to Congress Tuesday stating that the border could be opened this summer for Mexican trucks to cross the border.
   Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told senators he would likely give final approval to the report within a month. Once Mineta signs off on the report, President Bush would have the option to lift a moratorium, thereby opening the border.
   Mineta said the one-month timeframe would give the DOT time to place enough border inspectors at American points of entry. By mid-summer, the DOT will station more than four times as many personnel at the U.S./Mexican border than it had in mid-2001, he added.
   The DOT has hired and trained nearly 150 additional border inspectors, he said.
   Mineta said the DOT has issued regulations calling for Mexican vehicles operating beyond U.S. commercial zones to undergo inspections and display a valid Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspection decal.
   State inspectors from the border states of New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California have agreed to inspect all Mexico-domiciled vehicles lacking CVSA decals during the first 36 months after the border’s opening. Additionally, those states’ inspectors will also inspect vehicles for three years after permanent authority has been issued to those carriers under question. “We will not open the border, if doing so poses an unacceptable safety risk,” Mineta said.
   Mead told senators that one recommendation in his report was that all states should have the authority to take action when they encounter a Mexican vehicle being operated without authority. He said that only two states — California and Arizona — could ground a vehicle if they are operated by reckless drivers.
   Mead said that in 1999, DOT reported that at least 52 Mexican-domiciled motor carriers operated improperly in 20 states beyond the four border states. “We know that this problem has continued,” Mead said.