Opinion	E-mail PagePrint Version

The US Supreme Court is about to step into the middle of a clash between California and the Bush Administration over the issue of Mexican trucks. The long-running dispute will finally be settled, and we sincerely hope it is in favor of states' rights.
 
The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a Bush Administration challenge to a California appeals court ruling in January that prevented Mexican trucks from freely accessing US highways (since 1982, they have been confined to a 20-mile zone near the border). The ruling, based on legitimate environmental concerns, was entirely sensible.

The Court of Appeals found that the Bush Administration violated federal environmental laws in 2001 when it granted Mexican truckers the right to operate nationwide in the US Among other findings, judges concluded that the US Department of Transportation failed to analyze the impact that the trucks would have on cities near the border, such as Long Beach and Los Angeles.
 
This is a serious concern for the Los Angeles region.

Many Mexican trucks are older diesel models, the type that Caltrans [the California Department of Transportation] and local agencies are trying desperately to clear from Southern California roadways. Older diesel trucks are some of the worst polluters on wheels.
 
Nor are Mexico-based trucks subject to the same environmental controls as US trucks. US trucks are cleaner than comparable Mexican trucks, and as the US models improve, the differences between the two will escalate.

By 2010, Mexican trucks would emit twice as many cancer-causing particulates and lung-damaging nitrogen oxides.

The Bush Administration will argue its case in favor of presidential power in matters of foreign policy and compliance with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

That is small consolation to the communities near the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports that must bear a disproportionate share of pollution from big rigs. Safety and terrorism security are also major considerations that, in addition to the environmental impacts, have not been addressed.

The Supreme Court has put itself in the middle of several conflicts: NAFTA versus the National Environmental Policy Act, presidential power versus states' rights, and dueling federal edicts that require environmental standards but then seek to make it more difficult for states to meet those standards.
 
We hope the court will uphold the appeals ruling. Opening the border shouldn't be considered without adequate environmental studies, and until Mexico tightens its rules on trucks to match US standards, states should not be forced to give them a green light.

Go back, or read the latest opinions:

''On the Waterfront – Still''

John Fund, Wall Street Journal, 09/17/06