Byron Dorgan: “Well, it is interesting to me in trade discussions. For example, Mexico has pretty decent environmental standards.…”

“Well, it is interesting to me in trade discussions. For example, Mexico has pretty decent environmental standards. Someone said: Well, you have big environmental standards in Mexico. Yes, the problem is they are not enforced at all. So it doesn't matter to me what the standards required are, that is why I have emphasized enforcement. What are the standards and are the standards enforced? In most cases the answer is, with respect to Mexico, they are not enforced to the same degree we enforce the standards in this country. I do not believe you can make the case that there is similarity between the Canadian enforcement of good standards with respect to truck safety and the Mexican lack--I don't think you can make the same case it exists in identical fashion with Canada or Mexico. I think the evidence is quite clear the standards, with respect to Mexico, are lower, especially with respect to its enforcement. The reason I say that is this: If you had standards in Mexico that were enforced, and therefore you had knowledge of the issue of vehicle inspections, you had knowledge of accident reports and driver violations, there would be a database in Mexico by which you could access the data and make an evaluation of the data. Our inspector general has already determined no such database exists.”