For the first time, a Montanan is the head of one of the nation's largest industry associations.

Ray Kuntz, chief executive officer of Watkins Shepard Trucking, recently began a 16-month stint as president of The American Trucking Associations (ATA), a lobbying and safety organization of the trucking industry that has 50 affiliated state trucking associations.

Kuntz, 51, worked his way through Carroll College with a job at Ruckers Furniture, then after graduation opened The Floor Show. As a retailer, Kuntz realized how expensive shipping was from California to Montana, and started getting involved in transportation issues about two decades ago.

Today, Watkins Shepard has terminals in 19 states, and delivers to customers across the country. The firm is officially based in Missoula, but Kuntz works out of an office at the company's Helena terminal on Blaine Street.

Sticking to its roots, more than half of the firm's business is in the delivery of furniture and carpet from manufacturers to retailers, Kuntz said. The company counts 100 owner/operators among its 700 trucks, with the rest company-owned.

In a wide-ranging interview this week, Kuntz touched on a number of issues affecting both his company and the trucking industry as a whole, across Montana and across the country. Among them:

n The national driver shortage. Kuntz said demand for drivers keeps increasing, and finding and keeping good people is a perpetual challenge.

"We've been real successful at attracting baby boomers, people in their 50s," he said. The ATA maintains a Web site, www.gettrucking.com, aimed at luring people to the driving profession.

One problem, he said, is that people can't legally drive semis until they're 21, and many potential candidates have chosen other work by then.

"By the time kids get to 21, most of them have made career decisions," he said. "We end up having to hunt for people who have already failed at one career."

n Primary seat belt laws for all vehicles. Kuntz said highway fatalities have dropped in every state that makes not wearing a seat belt a primary offense.

"We don't like to pay large medical claims on people that shouldn't have been hurt," he said. "We have a primitive idea among some of our legislators that it's OK to let people continue to die out there."

n Fuel taxes. The ATA favors an increase in gas taxes, with the money going to repair and expand the country's highway system.

"Congestion costs the industry $8 billion a year, and it's growing at 8 to 10 percent per year," Kuntz said. "Our industry is ready for a fuel tax increase. We believe it has to happen before our infrastructure gets in worse and worse shape and congestion costs get higher and higher. It's pretty evident that if we don't do something, we're headed for big problems."

n The privatization of highways, as states look for ways to shed the burden of upkeep. Kuntz said while private highways are pretty unlikely in Montana the repurcussions of other state's privatizing their toll roads could be felt here.

"If you privatize the New Yorks and the New Jerseys, and allow those tolls to be raised for pivotal highways, those states won't want to pay fuel tax, and that could create patchwork funding" where Montana would not receive all the federal money it needs to keep the U.S. highways and interstates in good repair here.

n Greenhouse gases. "The only way to effectively reduce carbon (output) is to reduce fuel consumption," Kuntz said. "If you allow your highways to get more congested, you burn more fuel and you release more carbon."

Kuntz said fuel consumption issues stretch beyond highway congestion, though. The entire Watkins Shepard fleet is limited to 68 miles per hour across the country. In addition to saving fuel, driving at lower speeds means fewer accidents and less wear on tires.

"So you're more profitable," Kuntz said.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.