Problem number one: Thanks to the geniuses who negotiated NAFTA, Mexican trucks are allowed to deliver their payloads in the United States.
Problem number two: Mexico doesn’t have our strict pollution regulations, so its trucks spew ungodly amounts of toxic gasses.
Problem number three: President Obama decided that the solution to the problem isn’t to ban Mexican trucks from the United States, it’s to spend American tax dollars to upgrade the Mexican trucks.
Judicial Watch reports the madness:
In the latest effort to accommodate its cherished trade partner in the south, the U.S. government is paying to upgrade outdated Mexican trucks that hemorrhage illegal amounts of exhaust on their trips north to deliver merchandise.
The Mexican trucks enter the U.S. under a 17-year-old international trade pact known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and they’ve created an air pollution crisis. The air quality in border towns has been especially impacted by the exorbitant levels of exhaust released by the Mexican trucks, which also fail to meet American safety standards.
Since the Mexican truckers have no intention of fixing the problem, Uncle Sam has stepped in to save the environment. U.S. taxpayers have picked up the cost to replace old mufflers on dozens of trucks and many more are scheduled to be upgraded by the middle of this year. The unbelievable story was reported this week by an Arizona newspaper that says replacing the old mufflers with new catalytic converters will reduce harmful diesel emissions by up to 30%.
There’s only one thing that would make this story more ludicrous: If we find out that the American government is now paying Mexican truck drivers the difference between what they would make in Mexico and what union truck drivers make in the United States.
Sadly, you wouldn’t be surprised, would you?
Source: Judicial Watch
