Long-haul Truck Drivers from Mexico

Wednesday the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration published a notice in the Federal Register about their pilot program to allow ‘Mexico-domiciled’ motor carriers to provide international cargo delivery service throughout the United States. Readers who are also subscribers to the Journal of Hazmat Transportation will have already received notice of a description of that program that I did for that publication. Here I would like to take brief look at some of the chemical security implications of that program.

FMCSA does attempt to address potential security issues dealing with trucks entering the United States from a country that has been described as one of the greatest potential security threats to the United States due to their current civil war with the drug cartels.

Security Screening

First FMCSA is requiring that any carrier and driver in the program undergo a security screening. The notice states that:

“FMCSA would submit information on the applicant motor carriers and their drivers designated for long-haul operations in the pilot program to DHS for security screening.” (76 FR 20811)

FMCSA provides a partial list of findings that might preclude a carrier/driver from participating in the program. It includes:

• Providing false or incomplete information;

• Conviction of any criminal offense or pending criminal charges or outstanding warrants;

• Violation of any customs, immigration or agriculture regulations or laws;

• The carrier or driver is the subject of an ongoing investigation by any Federal, State or local law enforcement agency; or

• The motor carrier or driver is inadmissible to the United States under immigration regulations, including applicants with approved waivers of inadmissibility or parole documentation

The problem that is not addressed is the question about the information that DHS would be able to rely upon to complete this screening. The government corruption in Mexico that is part and parcel of the drug cartel problem should bring into question any information provided by that government to DHS. The fact that the corruption is reportedly expanding across the border to include law enforcement (Federal, State and local) in the United States only emphasizes the extent of the problem.

Even if accurate information were available to DHS there is no way to ensure that the person investigated is the person driving the truck. DHS is still having problems establishing standards in the United States to improve the reliability of information on driver’s licenses. The wide spread fraud and corruption in Mexico make any reliance on a Mexican government identification document and exercise in futility at best. A requirement for some sort of a US-issued, biometrically-based identification (TWIC?) might mitigate this concern.

Hazardous Material Carriage

FMCSA does try to limit any potential security implications by ensuring that “operating authority granted under the pilot program excludes the transportation of placardable quantities of hazardous materials” (76 FR 20811). This would seem to limit the possibility of the use of legitimate chemical cargo as a weapon of mass destruction.

Of course the only way to really tell what is in a tank wagon is to open it up and test the contents. This will not happen at the border, or at traffic stops, or at road-side inspections. The only thing about the load that will be checked is the paperwork. Of course terrorists would not forge paperwork (pardon the sarcasm).

The same thing could be done with a load originating in the United States, but it would be more difficult. In the drug gang controlled portions of Mexico all it would take is the order of a gang functionary for a legitimate tank wagon to be diverted to be loaded with chemicals to turn it into a weapon. In a domestically sourced shipment there would presumably be safeguards put into place to ensure that this does not happen (I know; there are no legal requirements for those safeguard, but DHS continues to promise the formulation of transportation security rules).

Oh well, international relations and politics will almost certainly ensure that these issues will be ignored in the development and implementation of this plan for allowing long-haul truck drivers from Mexico to expand their authorized use of US highways. High-risk chemical-facility security-managers should not assume however that FMCSA rules have some how reduced the potential risk.

NOTE: FMCSA is requesting public comments on this proposed pilot program. Comments need to be submitted by May 13, 2011. Comments may be submitted on the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.regulations.gov; Docket # FMCSA-2011-0097).