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WASHINGTON — The Teamsters union, environmentalists and traffic safety advocates went to federal court Wednesday seeking to stop the Bush administration from opening U.S. highways to Mexican trucks as early as this weekend.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents truck drivers, issued a statement saying that the union had been told by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the agency intends to begin a pilot program on Saturday that will allow thousands of long-haul trucks from Mexico to roll beyond a current border zone to cities throughout the country.
The Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law Foundation filed a request for an emergency stay with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to block the program from beginning.
"What a slap in the face to American workers — opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year," said Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters.
"Before providing unconditional access throughout the country to tens of thousands of big rigs we know little to nothing about, we must ensure they meet safety and environmental standards," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.
The federal agency that regulates commercial carrier safety would not say when the program will begin but issued a statement saying it was complying with a congressional mandate not to start the program before action by the Transportation Department's top inspectors.
"We are working closely with the department's inspector general as his office completes an additional assessment of the program, and we prepared a detailed response to that report," the agency statement said. "Congress has required that both of these steps be completed before the agency moves forward with the cross-border trucking demonstration project."
The one-year pilot program is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It would let 100 U.S. companies send their trucks into Mexico and 100 Mexican carriers dispatch their trucks on American highways. Critics charge that it is unsafe because Mexican trucks and drivers do not meet U.S. standards.
A Transportation Department report released this month questioned whether Mexican vehicles would be inspected every time they crossed the border and whether drug testing on Mexican drivers was adequate.
"Congress has repeatedly and overwhelmingly set stringent safety conditions for the cross-border trucking program to meet before our borders are thrown open," Hoffa said. He said the recent report "made it clear that these conditions have not been met."
However, the Transportation Department's inspector general has not released its final report on the program.
"We're really in a wait-and-see posture here until we find out what the inspector general says," said Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Association, which represents the nation's motor carriers.
Mexican motor carriers that cross the border are now allowed to operate only in designated commercial zones along the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The lawsuit charges that the Bush administration is ignoring congressional calls for caution and rushing
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents truck drivers, issued a statement saying that the union had been told by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that the agency intends to begin a pilot program on Saturday that will allow thousands of long-haul trucks from Mexico to roll beyond a current border zone to cities throughout the country.
The Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Law Foundation filed a request for an emergency stay with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to block the program from beginning.
"What a slap in the face to American workers — opening the highways to dangerous trucks on Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest driving weekends of the year," said Jim Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters.
"Before providing unconditional access throughout the country to tens of thousands of big rigs we know little to nothing about, we must ensure they meet safety and environmental standards," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.
The federal agency that regulates commercial carrier safety would not say when the program will begin but issued a statement saying it was complying with a congressional mandate not to start the program before action by the Transportation Department's top inspectors.
"We are working closely with the department's inspector general as his office completes an additional assessment of the program, and we prepared a detailed response to that report," the agency statement said. "Congress has required that both of these steps be completed before the agency moves forward with the cross-border trucking demonstration project."
The one-year pilot program is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It would let 100 U.S. companies send their trucks into Mexico and 100 Mexican carriers dispatch their trucks on American highways. Critics charge that it is unsafe because Mexican trucks and drivers do not meet U.S. standards.
A Transportation Department report released this month questioned whether Mexican vehicles would be inspected every time they crossed the border and whether drug testing on Mexican drivers was adequate.
"Congress has repeatedly and overwhelmingly set stringent safety conditions for the cross-border trucking program to meet before our borders are thrown open," Hoffa said. He said the recent report "made it clear that these conditions have not been met."
However, the Transportation Department's inspector general has not released its final report on the program.
"We're really in a wait-and-see posture here until we find out what the inspector general says," said Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Association, which represents the nation's motor carriers.
Mexican motor carriers that cross the border are now allowed to operate only in designated commercial zones along the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The lawsuit charges that the Bush administration is ignoring congressional calls for caution and rushing