NM lowers Mexican truck standards at the border

New Mexico's state government is the latest to cave in to the relentless pressure to lower safety standards. And they're the latest to come up with the excuse that "it will make goods cheaper." (Note: We'd rather have good jobs than cheap goods.)

Here's what New Mexico did: pass a law that lets overloaded trucks from Mexico operate within the state's border zone.

Landline Magazine has the story:

...because commercial vehicles in Mexico operate under different weight limits than trucks operating in New Mexico and Texas, some commercial reducible loads must be partially offloaded before crossing through border ports of entry.

The offloaded product must then be reloaded onto a second truck in Mexico before shipment across the border. Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Dona Ana, points out that the process adds significant costs for both Mexican producers and U.S. buyers.

The new law is intended to eliminate the offloading/reloading process and allow affected loads to be delivered directly to warehouses, processing facilities and logistics yards near the border.

Gov. Martinez said the companies importing those products will see reduced costs that will passed onto consumers.

Gov. Susana Martinez, by the way, is a real peach. She illegally fired the entire state labor relations board. Earlier this month the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled that what she did was unconstitutional and ordered her to reinstate the board.

Here's what the Democratic Party chairman had to say about her:

In barely more than 100 days in office Susana Martinez has yet again lost in the state supreme court for overstepping her authority. First she was caught making a back-room deal with lobbyists to weaken clean-water protections, now she has been soundly rebuked for attempting to take away employees' rights by dismantling the board assigned to hear worker complaints. Clearly Governor Martinez has a troubling agenda and it appears she is willing to run afoul of state law to do it.

Ever notice how people who want to weaken environmental and safety standards also want to destroy workers' rights?

That's why environmental groups and the Teamsters have joined together in the past to stop the US Department of Transportation from letting dangerous and dirty Mexican trucks have full use of our highways.

You can weigh in here on the latest proposal to open the border. It's easy and it takes hardly any time. Just click on the orange "Submit a comment" button, fill in the blanks and let 'er rip.