Trucking interests, along with safety and environmental advocacy groups, are asking a federal court not to open the gate for 100 Mexican trucking companies lining up long-haul, transborder operations under a pending U.S. program.The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, and the Environmental Law Foundation filed a complaint April 23 in the Northern District of California. The injunction suit wants the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “to comply with the law” for federal pilot programs and to provide public notice and an opportunity for comment on a plan to allow approved carriers beyond the current southern border transition zone.

In announcing the program February 23 DOT said the action was meant to comply with the trucking provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and U.S. congressional guidelines. Implementation of such transborder trucking operations has been halted by various judicial and political roadblocks since 1995.

Recently proposed legislation to delay the program will not be decided in time, opponents say. The plan was scheduled for implementation as soon as 60 days after the February announcement.

“We have strongly opposed this program since first introduced, and in particular, the secretive nature in which it has been presented by the DOT,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer said in statement. “The DOT has still not answered questions about verification of drivers’ records, drug and alcohol testing, Hours of Service, cabotage, inspections and insurance. They make general statements about audits of Mexican motor carriers, but have shown nothing that should make the American public feel confident that they have fulfilled all the obligations necessary before moving forward.

The Teamsters likewise questioned the safety of Mexico-based commercial vehicles.

The Bush administration is ignoring the American people in its zeal to open our borders to unsafe Mexican trucks. This reckless pilot program must be stopped and the driving public protected, stated Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. The Bush administration is trying to circumvent safety requirements by repackaging this plan as an illegal pilot program. Inspectors can’t enforce truck safety in the United States, let alone south of the border.