WASHINGTON, D.C.—Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV today sought reassurance from the Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood that his agency is doing all that it can to ensure applicants to the U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking program are adhering to the highest standards of safety.  Two recent events in DOT’s administration of the program involving Mexican-based trucking companies have raised concerns that there has been insufficient scrutiny of applicants to the program.

“As I have made clear before, the cross-border trucking program must be done in a way that does not make our highways less safe,” Rockefeller said.  “I need assurances that execution of this new plan is meeting this criteria because any loss of life due to lax oversight of the safety of motor carriers on our highways is unacceptable.”

A copy of Rockefeller’s letter to DOT can be found below.

Background:

In May, Chairman Rockefeller wrote Transportation Secretary LaHood and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk requesting that the Obama Administration make sure new regulations on trucks carrying freight from Mexico into the United States did not jeopardize safety or existing jobs in the United States. 

Rockefeller argued that a proposed plan on this issue would have threatened the competitiveness of U.S. trucking firms, lacked sufficient tools to accurately track the safety performance of Mexican trucks, burdened American taxpayers with the cost of safety upgrades to Mexican trucking fleets, and failed to eliminate all of Mexico’s retaliatory actions.  A copy of Rockefeller’s letter to Secretary LaHood and Ambassador Kirk can be found here.

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