Industry News

Supreme Court Settles Mexican Truck Access

June 7, 2004


The United States has prevailed in its appeal of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision ordering a study of the environmental impact of permitting Mexican trucks to conduct business in the U.S. beyond a limited border zone.  As a result, the U.S. is free to comply with the letter of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the result of a NAFTA Chapter 20 panel decision.

Under the terms of Annex I of the NAFTA, the U.S. agreed to open its trucking industry to Mexico-based carriers.  This change in policy was to take place by 2000.  When, for various procedural and administrative reasons, the moratorium was not lifted, Mexico successfully sought arbitration under Chapter 20.  Following that February 2001 decision, the U.S. attempted to lift the moratorium.  However, in a case brought by Public Citizen, the Ninth Circuit ordered the U.S. to complete, prior to lifting the ban, either an Environmental Impact Study or more limited Environmental Assessment of the effect of increased Mexican truck traffic.  The U.S. appealed to the Supreme Court.

In a decision by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court held that lifting the moratorium was not a "major Federal action" which would "significantly affect the quality of the human environment."  The reason for this is the Court's finding that the relevant agency, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had no discretion on whether to lift the moratorium.  Thus, there was no value to the studies as the studies would have no impact on the decision.  Put simply, the decision had been made by the President, FMCSA's only role was to implement the decision.  Similarly, because, according to the court, emissions from Mexican trucks are neither "direct" nor "indirect" emissions caused by FMCSA's proposed regulations, it was not required under the Clean Air Act to determine whether its new regulations are in conformity with the Clean Air Act.