Just got done hearing Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster speak, at this month’s Beer & Politics session, at Gallagher’s Pub & Grill.

He had tough words for polluters in the port–and some compassion for all the wildcat truck drivers out there who will be forced by the Port of Long Beach’s new clean air regulations to trade their old rigs for 2007 or newer models during the next five years.

“Eliminating 16,500 dirty trucks will not be easy,” the mayor said. “There will be a lot of bumps in the road, a lot of problems.”

You could hear that as the understatement of the year; one theory being kicked around by truckers is that the new Long Beach Harbor Commission clean air regulations set the stage for some group–possibly the Teamsters–to reconsolidate an industry which exploded following deregulation in the 1980s.

But Foster was very clear on not wanting to stamp out independent truckers.

“It’s not practical,” Foster said, of a possibility which the Port of Los Angeles is still considering: requiring truckers to become company employees–an idea which could help clean up polluters, but would also take time to implement.

Said Foster: “We want to get on with it.”

He ended with what sounded like a warning to Target, Wal-Mart, and all the other big-box stores who bring container after container of goods through our port.

“If you want greater velocity and volume of goods through the port, you’re going to have to take seriously clearing the air,” Foster said.

Tags: Beer & Politics, California, clean air regulations, Gallagher's Pub & Grill, Long Beach, Mayor Bob Foster, Port of Long Beach, PORT OF LOS ANGELES, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas