WASHINGTON - The news that Mexican trucks will be allowed to haul freight deeper into the United States drew an angry reaction Friday from labor leaders, safety advocates and members of Congress.
They said Mexico has substandard trucks and low-paid drivers that will threaten national security, cost thousands of jobs and endanger motorists on the northern side of the Mexican border.
The Bush administration on Thursday announced its plan to have U.S. inspectors oversee Mexican trucking companies that carry cargo across the border.
"This program will make trade with Mexico easier and keep our roads safe at the same time," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday. She announced details of the plan to let 100 Mexican trucking companies travel beyond the border area while she was in El Paso, Texas, at the Bridge of the Americas, which connects to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa: "They are playing a game of Russian roulette on America's highways."
Access to all U.S. highways was promised by 2000 under the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, as was access through Mexico for U.S. carriers.
That aspect of NAFTA was stalled by lawsuits and disagreements between the two countries, though Canadian and U.S. trucks travel freely across the northern border.
The Bush pilot project will let Mexican truck companies travel from Mexico throughout the United States and back. No hazardous material shipments will be permitted.
According to the Transportation Department, U.S. inspectors will inspect every truck and interview drivers to make sure they can read and speak English. They'll examine trucks and check the licenses, insurance and driving records of the Mexican drivers. Inspectors will also verify that the trucking companies are insured by U.S.-licensed firms.
The first Mexican trucks are expected to drive into the United States beyond the border area in about 60 days, the Transportation Department says.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman questioned how the U.S. could spare sending inspectors to Mexico when only a tiny percentage of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. truck companies are inspected every year.
"They lack the inspectors to conduct safety reviews of at-risk domestic carriers," Hersman said. "That situation only gets worse if resources are diverted to the border."
One-fourth of all U.S. trucks are taken off the road after random inspections because they're so unsafe, she said. An even higher percentage of Mexican trucks are taken off the road at Texas border crossings, she said.
Mexican carriers insist their rigs meet U.S. standards. And according to the Transportation Department, 240 federal and 300 state government employees deal with Mexican truck issues.
Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said inspections will be meaningless because the trucks won't have black boxes that record how long a driver has been behind the wheel.
"They have no way of telling how many hours these truck drivers have been driving before they get to the U.S., let alone when they get here," Claybrook said.
Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, announced a March 8 hearing to determine whether the arrangement meets safety requirements.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (news, bio, voting record), D-Ore., chair of the House Highways subcommittee, said Congress will keep a close eye on the program.
Mexico responded to the U.S. announcement by saying it will allow trucks from 100 U.S. companies to travel across the border.
Business groups have wanted the border opened to avoid middleman costs of transferring goods from Mexican to U.S. trucks.
The American Trucking Associations said it supports the program, but wants to make sure that U.S. and Mexican truck companies are held to the same standards.
"We also are waiting to see that when US carriers are allowed to travel into Mexico that the regulatory and permitting process that U.S. carriers undergo is fair and transparent," the ATA said in a statement
What's the gift you ask? A little bit less of America than you used to have.
JimmyZ wrote:Quote:
Access to all U.S. highways was promised by 2000 under the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement
Exactly how is this a "gift from the Bush administration"? I seem to recall a Democrat in office in 1993.
You mean this?
Quote:
The agreement was initially pursued by conservative governments in the United States and Canada supportive of free trade, led by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and the Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The three-nation NAFTA was signed on 17 December 1992, pending its ratification by the legislatures of the three countries. There was considerable opposition in all three countries, but in the United States it was able to secure passage after Bill Clinton made its passage a major legislative initiative in 1993. During his presidential campaign he had promised to review the agreement, which he considered inadequate. Since the agreement had been signed by Bush under his fast-track prerogative, Clinton did not alter the original agreement, but complemented it with the aforementioned NAAEC and NAALC. After intense political debate and the negotiation of these side agreements, the U.S. House passed NAFTA by 234-200 (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor)[2] and the U.S. Senate passed it by 61-38[3]. Finally, Clinton sanctioned the ratification on November 1993
Also, I didn't see Bush spend any of the last 6 years furiously trying to repeal NAFTA when he had the chance. Did you?
However, you bring up a point. A big hand must also go to the Clintons for implementing a scheme that Machiavelli would be proud of. Still, Bush gets a very special thank you because he's like that dentist that looks at your cavity and sticks his metal prod right into it going "Does that hurt?" when you scream. He may not have created the problem, but he goes out of his way to make it worse.
Together the Republicans and Democrats are quite the team. Give them another twenty years and we'll all have to speak Chinese or Mexican to get a job while they retire in grass skirts.
God I hate politicians.
I think its a great idea. we might be able to get cheaper products, at least im hoping. either way, I see nothing wrong with this, last time I checked, most terrorist wore a blanket over their head, not a sombrero.....
Yeah I think this is a Clinton thing isn't it?
This is a BAAAAAAAAAAAD idea. Anyone who's been to Mexico and seen the state of their trucks knows this is a very very very very bad idea. You know how all the older cars migrate to the poor side of a city? Well used up, way-past-their-prime big rigs end up in Mexico. Plus they pollute as if they're running coal under the hood. This should make Californians extremely angry as we already have bad air problems up and down the state, especially in the basins where our intrastate highways run. It personally pissed me off.
And don't even get me started about the loss of jobs.
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Orlandomon wrote:I think its a great idea. we might be able to get cheaper products, at least im hoping. either way, I see nothing wrong with this, last time I checked, most terrorist wore a blanket over their head, not a sombrero.....
Yeah you'll need the cheaper prices because of the further loss of jobs slowing down your raises!
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AGuSTiN wrote:Yeah I think this is a Clinton thing isn't it?
This is a BAAAAAAAAAAAD idea. Anyone who's been to Mexico and seen the state of their trucks knows this is a very very very very bad idea. You know how all the older cars migrate to the poor side of a city? Well used up, way-past-their-prime big rigs end up in Mexico. Plus they pollute as if they're running coal under the hood. This should make Californians extremely angry as we already have bad air problems up and down the state, especially in the basins where our intrastate highways run. It personally pissed me off.
And don't even get me started about the loss of jobs.
If this world were perfect, the opening of the border would mean a big boost in gross wealth for Mexico, translating (hopefully) into better working conditions, like better trucks. Also, a boost in the economy would influence and fund Mexico to build their own production facilities and become more independent.
But the world is far from perfect.
Trucks, trucks and more trucks.. Now sub-standard, un-safe trucks that couldn't pass a US or Canadian road inpection without massive amounts of bribe money.. Great.. Sure am glad I don't live in the souther US, I'd be ticked off in a big way. Loss of safety and loss of US trucking jobs.. Just the tip of the iceburg really.
Did you know that a locomotive gets about the same fuel economy as a truck.. A loco can haul approx 180 times the frieght with that same fuel economy. Who is working to ressurect the railways? Gore? Anyone? The trouble with rail frieght is the horrid handling in the frieght yards. Fix the horrid logistics and poof, you have an instant fix for a huge amoujnt of long haul frieght traffic.
Why is this not being done?!?!? Likely nobody has figured out how to make a billion doing it.
PAX
Hahahaha wrote:Trucks, trucks and more trucks.. Now sub-standard, un-safe trucks that couldn't pass a US or Canadian road inpection without massive amounts of bribe money.. Great.. Sure am glad I don't live in the souther US, I'd be ticked off in a big way. Loss of safety and loss of US trucking jobs.. Just the tip of the iceburg really.
Did you know that a locomotive gets about the same fuel economy as a truck.. A loco can haul approx 180 times the frieght with that same fuel economy. Who is working to ressurect the railways? Gore? Anyone? The trouble with rail frieght is the horrid handling in the frieght yards. Fix the horrid logistics and poof, you have an instant fix for a huge amoujnt of long haul frieght traffic.
Why is this not being done?!?!? Likely nobody has figured out how to make a billion doing it.
PAX
Truck industry lobbyists. Think about it if the rail industry is seen as more effiecient and cost effective and reliable way of moving goods across country the long haul truck industry would likely fizzle to a small minority or fade away into history. Truck makers would lose out on sales of long haul OTR trucks and probably close plants and long haul OTR companies would lay off hundereds if not thousands due to not needing as many long haul drivers anymore.
Once again the Bush administration shows they're true color, Gree(n)d over people. Bad enough they gave companies a tax cut for outsourcing jobs.
They can lay new rail and build new locos.. No problem.. AND that stuff is too heavy to outsource effectively.. Home made solution.
PAX
Build a better rail system. Even trucks in America are a major safety hazard in the US. I've lost count the number of times I've almost been run off the road by a semi that thinks it owns the road.
-Chris
IamRascal wrote:Build a better rail system. Even trucks in America are a major safety hazard in the US. I've lost count the number of times I've almost been run off the road by a semi that thinks it owns the road.
now it will only get better, you can get run off the road by a truck without insurace this time, wonderful!
