May 1, 2002
By Jessica Brice

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A coalition of environmental, consumer and labor organizations sued the federal government hoping to stop the implementation of regulations for the operation of Mexican trucks in the United States.

The regulations - outlining safety and operational requirements - are required before a 1982 moratorium that bans Mexican trucks from the United States can be lifted.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday two days before the regulations go into effect, marked the latest in a dispute over whether Mexican trucking companies should be allowed to haul cargo across the border.

Proponents of the regulations have accused opponents of trying to stifle trade between the United States and Mexico. Environmentalists and labor unions claim the trucks aren't clean enough to enter the country.

The suit claims that the Department of Transportation, which is named as a defendant, did not conduct a thorough analysis of the environmental effects of the Mexican trucks when making its recommendations earlier this year. Also named as a defendant is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The plaintiffs - Public Citizen, the Environmental Law Foundation, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the California Federation of Labor AFL-CIO and the California Trucking Association - hired Sacramento-based Sierra Research Inc. to study the environmental impacts.

"The report found two huge legal errors," said Jim Wheaton, president of the Environmental Law Foundation. "First, they failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. Second ... the federal government can't do anything to make it more difficult for a local area to meet its air quality standards."

The Mexican trucks, which don't have to meet the same emission standards as American vehicles, will make it difficult for states to meet their clean-air requirements, Wheaton said.

The study estimates the trucks will emit twice as much pollution as U.S. trucks by 2010.
On the Net: http://www.envirolaw.org/diesel.html

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