FMCSA 04-07
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Contact: Melissa Mazzella DeLaney
Tel.: (202) 366-2309

New Federal Court Filing Shows Cross Border Trucking Stay Request Lacks Merit

A union-backed effort to halt a program to give U.S. truck drivers access into Mexico and allow a limited number of Mexican trucks to operate long-haul routes within the United States lacks merit according to documents filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today. The documents were filed on behalf of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in response to an emergency stay request filed by the Teamsters and other groups yesterday.

The emergency motion is “notable for the complete absence of any assertion of immediate and irreparable injury,” according to the government’s court filing. The government argues that the court should not issue a stay “in light of the petitioner’s failure to show any irreparable injury.”

The government filing notes, for example, that each year trucks from Mexico make 4.5 million trips across the border into U.S. cities like San Diego and El Paso. These trucks have a safety record that meets and in some cases exceeds the safety record of U.S. trucks.

The filing adds that the Department’s cross border truck demonstration program will have no impact on safety, given the thorough pre-screening and safety inspections that every truck from Mexico will have to endure before being allowed to travel into the United States and beyond the existing commercial border zones.

The government response to the stay motion also notes that 44 trucks from Mexico are expected to participate in the program during its first 30 days, and that during the year-long program no more than 100 carriers will be authorized to participate.

In addition, the agency separately noted that the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General must submit a Congressionally-mandated assessment of the program, the Department must respond to that assessment, and U.S. companies must begin receiving clearance to operate in Mexico, before the agency will begin allowing a small number of Mexican trucks to change the way they operate within the United States. And the filing makes clear that the program is not anticipated to start any sooner than Thursday, September 6th.

The groups arguing for the stay “have made absolutely no showing that they will be irreparably harmed by commencement of the Demonstration Project,” the filing concludes.