Greens, Teamsters collide with Mexican trucks
By: Erika Lovley
Feb 13, 2008, politico.com
International Brotherhood of Teamsters lobbyist Fred McLuckie thought his fight to keep Mexican trucks out of America ended when Congress cut a pilot program’s funding last December.
Instead, the veteran lobbyist is still in the fight, after U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters continued to fund the program — a move many interest groups and lawmakers say is unconstitutional.
Some lobbyists say they’ve done as much as they can on Capitol Hill and are urging their interest groups to pursue legal action. The Teamsters and three other groups are adding the new funding controversy to a lawsuit filed against the Department of Transportation last year.
“You never know what to expect in this town,” McLuckie said. “It is certainly disappointing that we’re going back at this program. Our immediate concern is that Mary Peters isn’t following the law.”
The program, launched by the DOT last September, opened the border to several dozen Mexican trucks for deliveries in the United States. Some U.S. trucks are also allowed to deliver directly into Mexico.
Before, the Mexican trucks were only allowed within a 25-mile buffer zone near the border to have their goods loaded onto U.S. trucks.
The program drew harsh criticism from the Teamsters, citizen rights group Public Citizen and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which have aligned to press safety and pollution concerns with lawmakers. The groups say there is no guarantee that the trucks are in compliance with U.S. safety or emissions standards.
The Teamsters have gotten support from an unlikely bedfellow: the environmentalist Sierra Club. Greens are concerned that emissions from Mexican trucks could cause El Paso, Texas, and other U.S. cities along the border to violate Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
“We think the increase of potential air pollution could put communities along the border out of Clean Air Act compliance,” said Sierra Club spokesman Oliver Bernstein.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard oral arguments Tuesday over the plaintiff’s charges that Peters broke federal laws and endangered American motorists by allowing the trucks on the road.
“We’re pushing Congress to stop this,” said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. “We already passed a law that says you can’t spend this money, and Mary Peters is.”
Much of the trucking dispute comes down to a war of words.
The transportation department maintains that funding should continue under the new law, even though it states that taxpayer funds can’t be “used to establish” a pilot trucking program. The law was enacted in December, three months after the pilot program had already been established, the DOT argues.
Entire article at politico.com
|
