Bush Administration’s Pilot Program Is Reckless and Illegal
Contact:
Leslie Miller
(202) 624-6911
or
Leigh Strope
(202) 624-6911
April 24, 2007
(Washington, D.C.) – The Teamsters Union has filed a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s illegal pilot program authorizing unsafe Mexican trucks to operate freely in the United States.
The lawsuit against the Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was filed Monday in federal court in California. The Teamsters Union is suing because the Bush administration violated federal law by failing to publish proper, advance notice of the pilot project and by not allowing an opportunity for public comment before the program takes effect.
“The Bush administration is ignoring the American people in its zeal to open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “This reckless pilot program must be stopped and the driving public protected.”
Joining the Teamsters in the suit are Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law Foundation and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Congress is moving to shut down the pilot program, but legislation may not be enacted quickly enough with the unsafe long-haul Mexican trucks prepared to start crossing into the United States within days. Under a 2001 NAFTA order, the Bush administration is authorizing up to 100 Mexico-based trucking companies to operate beyond the narrow border zone.
Congress is considering a provision in an emergency spending bill that would block funding for the program until Mexican trucking companies meet congressionally mandated safety and security standards—which they have been unable to do for years. It also would require that U.S. trucks have equal access to Mexican roads and mandate that the project comply with federal law governing pilot programs. A bill by Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., would enact similar requirements.
“The Bush administration is trying to circumvent safety requirements by repackaging this plan as an illegal pilot program,” Hoffa said. “Inspectors can’t enforce truck safety in the United States, let alone south of the border.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is the nation’s largest transportation union, representing 1.4 million hardworking women and men throughout the United States and Canada.
Serving Freedom
and Liberty
