Claiming the Bush Administration has failed to address environmental health concerns for Mexico-domiciled truck emissions, an environmental, labor and industry coalition filed a lawsuit Wednesday to keep Mexican trucks off U.S. highways.

The coalition, led by Public Citizen, the Environmental Law Foundation and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is seeking an emergency injunction to prevent proposed federal regulations from becoming effective on Friday.
The lawsuit claims that trucks from Mexico will dramatically increase U.S. air pollution because:

• At least 30,000 Mexico-domiciled diesel trucks are set to enter the U.S. in 2002, including many older, pre-1994 trucks that are the most egregious polluters.

• Within 10 years, diesel emissions from U.S. trucks will be dramatically reduced due to new engine and fuel standards; no legislation is pending in Mexico to require Mexico-domiciled trucks to meet the same or even similar standards.

• Trucks from Mexico may not be covered from a settlement that requires U.S. trucks to remove "defeat devices" which enabled them to test clean at inspection sites but run dirty on the open road.

"By failing to accurately assess the true environmental impact of allowing these trucks from Mexico throughout the United States, the Administration has put the health of millions of Americans at greater risk," said Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen.
The plaintiffs are challenging the Bush Administration's "finding of no significant impact," or FONSI prepared on these trucks and seeking an injunction requiring the Administration to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS would address the significant public health concerns about these trucks before they are allowed throughout the country.
The lawsuit, which was filed in San Francisco, points to a new study that raises serious questions about the public health impact of allowing these environmentally unsafe trucks from Mexico to drive throughout the United States. For example, the study shows, by the year 2010, these trucks will emit twice as much particulate matter and nitrogen oxides as U.S. trucks. Fine particulate matter is considered to be the largest environmental public health problem in the United States today. Nitrogen oxides are dangerous because they help form ozone, which is a strong irritant to the lungs and eyes. At high concentrations, ozone causes shortness of breath, and aggravates asthma, emphysema, and other conditions.
The suit claims that the Bush Administration disregarded key requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act in their efforts to allow these trucks access to all U.S. highways. The study was conducted by Sierra Research Inc., a Sacramento, Calif.-based company.
"Commercial trucks from Mexico will not meet this country's tougher emissions standards," said James P. Hoffa, General President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "We should make sure that these trucks are safe and in full compliance with the same clean air rules that we hold American trucks to before we allow them to travel throughout the Southwest and elsewhere that already suffer from poor air quality."
In addition to Public Citizen, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) other plaintiffs in the suit include the California Federation of Labor AFL-CIO and the California Trucking Association.
"Diesel kills," said Al Meyerhoff, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "Older trucks from Mexico, due to their dangerously high emission rates, present a clear and present risk to public health."