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From Fleetowner.com

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled unanimously that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is not required to conduct a full environmental assessment on the impact of border-crossing Mexican trucks in context of the standards of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

And it gets better -

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The ruling was vied as a victory for some in the trucking industry including Celadon Group Inc., which told Bloomberg News it could employ lower-paid Mexican drivers to carry goods to and from U.S. cities, and save the time and expense of having to transfer loads at the border.

The ATA is such a sham -

Bill Graves, president & CEO of American Trucking Associations, supported the ruling.

“Today’s decision represents another important step in the continued growth of the American economy and the trucking industry,” Graves said in a written statement. “The Supreme Court has opened the door for the continued improvement of the North American freight transportation system which will help increase trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico in a safe, seamless manner.”

We say that Mexican trucks don’t have to comply with the EPA, but then there’s this article.

The United States seeks to encourage trucking companies to reduce exhaust emissions as a way of improving air quality at the southern border and hopes to enlist the aid of Mexico in a coordinated effort, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official said.

We have to reduce our diesel emissions and we hope to enlist the aid of Mexico. I’m pretty sure most of the smog around the border isn’t from us. I don’t have the facts, but that’s just my guess.

And then from Layover.com

“It’s important. It’s a step forward … it upholds the law,” said Leon Flores Gonzalez, president of Mexico’s National freight Transport Chamber. “But what we need are legal guarantees to have the right to circulate freely in all states and in equal conditions.”

I can’t stand it when Mexico demands anything from us and expects us to cow down to their wishes. And most of the time we do because of spineless politicians that think Hispanics want this intrusion from Mexico. They don’t want equal status, they want exempt status. To be able to run unsafe equipment and be left alone and do whatever they want.

U.S. truck drivers fear the new policy will prompt their employers to replace them with Mexican drivers. U.S. truckers on average earn about 32 cents a mile while their Mexican counterparts make about half that.

Mexican truckers say they can’t afford to meet strict U.S. regulations.

Flores Gonzalez said U.S. truck safety inspections already in place at the border are hitting Mexican trucks with what he called “excessive fines.”

He said truckers face fees “if you lack a tool, or the engine is out of tune, or a light is burned out.”

“We can’t even get into Texas because they say we’re not fit to drive” on those roads, Flores Gonzalez said.

Is that a complaint that they are being profiled? What’s next, we can’t inspect Mexican trucks because it might be profiling.

Flores Gonzalez conceded Mexican trucks have a bad reputation in the United States.

“They say our trucks are too old, too heavy, too polluting, and that our drivers earn less,” he said, countering, “we have strong, well-financed companies that are able to compete with anybody in the world.”

They can compete with anybody in the world because their trucks are old, too heavy, too polluting and that their drivers earn less.

There wouldn’t be a problem if Mexican trucks met the same equipment and safety inspections that we have to pass. Their insurance for running in the US should be about the same, fuel, food, tires and everything else would cost them as much as it costs us.

The problem is when companies start double brokering. Stuff comes out of Mexico on a Mexican truck and goes to say, New York. Stuff from New York being exported to Mexico, goes to Mexico. No problem. Canada has to abide by the same rules.

But what if a company had something going from New York to California? They could use a Mexican truck to take it to Mexico. Then a Mexican truck to take it from Mexico to California. Because their drivers are paid less and their equipment costs less (because it’s old and not maintained and not up to our safety standards). A few extra miles wouldn’t even matter. Canadians get paid about the same as us so this has never been a problem when Canada came into the picture. What about stuff being shipped to US border cities? Just ship it to Mexico and ship it back 10 miles across the border.

How can this be prevented? I don’t know. It would probably only happen for stuff that had no deadline to meet and could take a couple of extra days to get to the destination. I’m sure there’s plenty of companies that would rather save a few bucks and have their freight delivered a few days later.

Between Mexican drivers and H1b visas with cheap drivers immigrating to the US and Canada, there’s not going to be much reason to raise rates. A loaf of bread is still going to be expensive and will keep costing more, but it won’t be because of shipping rates, at least rates to drivers. Companies and brokers will probably make out as always, be sure of that.