The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling this week giving President Bush the authority to allow approximately 30,000 Mexican trucks onto U.S. roads marks the culmination of a long campaign by Mr. Bush. During his tenure as governor of Texas, President Bush signed a letter to the Clinton Administration criticizing its refusal to open the border to Mexican trucks. [1]
In 2001, under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Bush administration issued new regulations that would allow tens of thousands of aging trucks from Mexico to haul freight anywhere in the U.S. without having to meet U.S. clean air standards. Mexican trucks pose a greater pollution risk than trucks licensed in the U.S., which must adhere to stricter emission standards.
The regulations were delayed through a lawsuit filed by a broad coalition of organizations including Public Citizen, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Lung Association, the California Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, the California Trucking Association, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The groups argued that the regulations disregarded key requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act. They pointed out that the administration should have considered the environmental impacts of opening the border.
The Supreme Court's decision, overturning a ruling by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, also means the administration will not have to do a detailed environmental impact study.
"This ruling gives a green light to allow trucks to cross the border with no regard for their effect on the environment," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "Communities on both sides of the border are already struggling with severely polluted air. This ruling in essence tells those communities they must fend for themselves, because the federal government isn't going to help them by ever acknowledging or accurately describing the impact of its own decisions on their air quality."
The older, Mexican diesel trucks are more likely to emit high levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. [2] The fine particles composing this pollution are easily inhaled deep into the lungs where they can remain embedded for long periods of time. Hundreds of community health studies have linked daily increases in fine particle pollution to reduced lung function, greater use of asthma medications, and increased rates of school absenteeism, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and premature death. [3] Exhaust is also a known carcinogen. [4]
"This is yet another example of how the Bush administration's approach to trade puts communities at risk and weakens our hard-won clean air protections," said Stephen Mills, director of the Sierra Club's International Program. "The Bush administration shouldn't put trade deals ahead of public health. Instead they should make sure that environmental protections are part of trade agreements."
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SOURCES:
[1] "The Coming NAFTA Crash: The Deadly Impact of a Secret NAFTA Tribunal’s Decision to Open U.S. Highways to Unsafe Mexican Trucks," Public Citizen.
[2] Sierra Club fact sheet.
[3] "State of the Air: 2004," American Lung Association.
[4] "Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust," US EPA.
