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 Editorials | Issues | February 2008 
Bumpy Ride in Court for Trucking Program
 Paul M. Krawzak - Copley News Service
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| | Outside a federal appeals court in San Francisco, union members and supporters rallied against a program that allows Mexican trucks to drive throughout the United States. (Associated Press) | 
| Teamsters Union members held Mexican, U.S. flags at the rally. (Associated Press)
U-T multimedia: For an audio recording of yesterday's arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, click HERE. | | |
Washington – Opponents of a Bush administration program that allows Mexican trucks to drive throughout the United States called the program a “sham” yesterday as they urged a federal appeals court to shut it down.
Jonathan Weissglass, an attorney for the Teamsters Union and other groups opposed to the five-month-old project designed to test Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, said the program lacks enough participants for a statistically valid sample, as required by Congress.
The program, scheduled to run through September, was designed to have up to 100 Mexican carriers participating. At present, 12 Mexican carriers fielding 42 trucks have been authorized to participate after passing U.S. inspections.
The program also allows an equivalent number of U.S. carriers to travel throughout Mexico for the first time.
Groups opposed to the program traded legal jabs with the U.S. Department of Transportation before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Opponents say the Bush administration has ignored safety standards imposed on the program by Congress, as well as a law passed by Congress in December to end the pilot program altogether.
The administration says the program is legal and safe.
Weissglass, who also represents the Sierra Club and Public Citizen in the lawsuit, urged the three-judge panel hearing the case to issue an immediate injunction to halt the program.
“And, at the least, there should be an injunction before the end of the year is up and they (federal officials) go ahead and decide to open the border based on the flawed pilot program,” he said.
The court has not indicated when it might rule.
The administration hopes the program proves successful enough that the border with Mexico can be opened to wider commercial truck traffic, as required by the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Opponents argued the administration is violating the law by ignoring legislation passed by Congress to end the program.
The administration contends the wording in the law, which bars establishing a pilot program, is too narrow to end an existing program.
Judge Dorothy W. Nelson asked for an explanation.
“Isn't the congressional intent behind (the law) unambiguous?” she asked, according to an official court recording of the hearing. “If you look at the legislative history, including remarks by both proponents and opponents of the program, clearly it indicates in the record that the intention was to halt the pilot program.”
Irene Solet, an attorney representing the Department of Transportation, said the administration's interpretation of the law is backed up by two other provisions in the same legislation.
The provision aimed at ending the program only prohibits using federal funds to “establish” a program, she said. But in the same legislation, she added, Congress used broader language to shut off funding to two unrelated programs.
Weissglass argued that “establish” is a broad term. “It includes both the one-time act of initiating the pilot program as well as continuing the pilot program,” he said.
Paul Cullen Sr., an attorney for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which opposes the program, told the court that the Bush administration violated the law by not requiring Mexican carriers to comply with every U.S. trucking regulation.
For instance, he said U.S. transportation officials allow Mexican truck drivers to use Mexican commercial driver licenses in lieu of the U.S. equivalent.
While U.S. truck drivers can lose their licenses if they are convicted of drunken driving at any time, Mexican truck drivers are not penalized for violations that occur when they are off duty.
Solet responded that some Mexican standards, such as those requiring medical examinations in order to drive, are viewed as equivalent to U.S. standards.
“The medical examination required for commercial drivers in Mexico is the same medical examination as required for airline pilots,” she said. “If a medical examination is sufficiently comprehensive and thorough to qualify a pilot for a commercial airline, that is the kind of examination that they will accept as comparable.”
Paul M. Krawzak: paul.krawzak(at)copleydc.com |
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