Diesel Long Haul Trucks from Mexico

On September 6, Mexico will begin a one-year pilot program allowing direct shipments by long haul trucks crossing the Mexican border into the USA. Part of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, the trucking provision was never put in place during the Clinton Administration. In 2001, the Bush Administration was ordered to comply with the provision. Due to an initiative by consumer, labor and environmental interests to block the Mexican trucks, many of which are older diesel vehicles, the program has been held up for years in the court system. On August 31st, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Fransisco denied petitions to hault the program and approved the Bush administration to move forward.

As the pilot program is put in place, it will allow approximately 540 rigs meeting safety, licensing, and other US requirments to travel directly over US borders to their destination, rather than transferring goods to US-owned trucks.

In 2005, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) published a report on Mexican truck traffic in regards to the first phase of the trucking provision. Their findings report the following air pollution concers:
- an extra 50 tons of NOx and 2.5 tons of particulate matter a day will be added to California's South Coast Air Basin
- 66% of Mexican trucks are older (pre-1993) diesel models and do not have electronic fuel injection
- 25% are diesel trucks older than 1979 having extremely high emissions of NOx and particulate matter
- unlike the US, Mexico does not require trucks to use ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel

See the Source:
Reuters
Landline

diesel emissions
NOx emissions
particle pollution