Mexican truckers await permits to drive farther into U.S.
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/11/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

A GCC driver ran to a company cement hauler rig at the company's El Paso plant at 2825 W. Paisano at Executive Center on Thursday. The company ships dry cement from Salamayuca, Mexico, to the plant. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)Repeated assaults on a pilot program to let Mexican trucks roam U.S. roadways are not deterring one local company.
Grupo Cementos de Mexico, based in Chihuahua City with cement plants in Juárez, was supposed to send its first truck across in December, the month the U.S. Congress passed an omnibus bill containing a provision to block the program.

But politics is not what kept the GCC truck home.

"The process is very hard," said company spokesman Humberto Urranga. "There are a lot of checks. We had the insurance and the special stickers and the Texas license plates, but we were still waiting for (Department of Transportation) stickers to drive in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado."

The pilot project is proceeding, regardless of its controversy in the United States, Urranga said.

"It is in the NAFTA treaty, they have to abide by it. So we're confident and we're moving ahead," he said.

The Bush administration recently found a loophole in the bill passed by Congress and is going ahead with the program. The law passed in December prohibits the government from spending any money to "establish" the program. The government says the new rules don't apply to the current program since it started in September.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation will not establish any new demonstration programs with Mexico," said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokeswoman Melissa Mazzella DeLaney. "The current cross-border trucking demonstration project -- established in

September -- will continue to operate in a manner that puts safety first."
So far, 12 Mexican carriers, including GCC, have received permits and 37 other carriers have passed the pre-authorization safety audit. The Mexican government operates a mirror program and has given four U.S. companies permits to drive in the interior of Mexico.

Congressional opponents of the programs insist that it's clear what lawmakers were trying to do last year when both House and Senate voted against allowing the program to go forward.

"They know what the law says," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who won a 74-24 vote to block the program. "And they're not above the law." Dorgan warned they better follow the law.

Officials with the Teamsters Union, who oppose the program saying it will lead to unfair competition from Mexican drivers they said are paid as little as $7 a day, said the Bush administration knew that the intent of the law was to stop the program but went on anyway.

"The lawlessness, recklessness and sheer arrogance of the Bush administration just blows my mind," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "Did Transportation Secretary Mary Peters somehow forget she took an oath of office to uphold the law?"

A lawsuit filed by the Teamsters, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen to block the program is still pending. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12 before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Teamsters spokeswoman Leslie Miller said.

Environmental groups and consumers' rights groups fear that generally older Mexican trucks will increase pollution and make U.S. roads unsafe. Department of Transportation officials said the trucks have to go through strict safety inspections.

Through lawsuits, the groups delayed the opening of U.S. highways mandated by NAFTA more than 10 years ago. Until now, Mexican trucks have been limited to a 20-mile zone along the border, where they can pass their cargo on to U.S. trucks, which take the merchandise farther into the United States.

Although many of the Mexican companies enrolled in the program have registered several trucks each, many said they are only testing the water with one or two trucks, and even one or two trips.

Albert Luna, owner and president of Sky Transportation of El Paso, worried last year about having to compete with Mexican truckers. He is a little more optimistic now, he said.

"The administration is going to go through with it, there's no way to stop it. But I think the strength of the program has tapered off a bit. Now that you don't have Congress backing it and a lot of the public is not backing it, it's not going to have the same strength. There will be a lot of roadblocks and not many people are going to take advantage of it. It's positive for U.S. carriers," he said.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/business/ci_7937180