Time to make some hard choices...

I've got a whole new perspective on those big rigs my teeny little Honda weeves through every morning on the 210.

Yes. Their big diesel engines pollute.

But you can't blame the owners of these giants for decrying increased regulation, set to be approved on Friday, that will cost their industry billions of dollars.

They are struggling, like everybody else these days. They are laying off people. And they will likely lay off more, as they adjust their companies to the greening of transportation and a slumping economy.

But the regulation is hard to argue with.

We live in a polluted state, and it seems we have come to a choice between the health threats of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen or the health of trucking companies.

It's hard not to lean toward life on this choice, and begin facing the hard consequences of the extent to which we've polluted our air.