California’s Clean Air ‘Under Siege,’ Regulators Say, and the State Should ‘Fight Back’

California’s air regulator said the state should power ahead with the adoption of zero-emission vehicles to counter the federal government’s attacks on state programs aimed at slashing pollution from transportation.

A report published Tuesday recommended backfilling clean vehicle federal tax credits that will end next month, bolstering workforce development in the clean vehicle sector and continuing the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a program that, among other things, funnels private investments into making cleaner fuels.

“Clean air efforts are under siege, putting the health of every American at risk,” said Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, in a call with media.

“California is continuing to fight back and will not give up on cleaner air and better public health,” Randolph said. “More than 10 million Californians live in unhealthy air, and 1,500 die from air pollution every year in Southern California alone.”

Regulators also vowed to write new rules on car emissions — a process that takes years — that can be reviewed by the EPA should a new administration take office in 2028.

The report also suggested curbing emissions from all types of vehicles by building out reliable charging infrastructure, exploring ways to reduce the cost of charging zero-emission vehicles and prioritizing state and local government use of zero-emission vehicles over those that produce planet-warming pollution.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, but the repeated attacks on transportation electrification from the current administration and Congress mean that it’s time for states to step up and move us toward a cleaner, modern, and efficient transportation system,” Sam Wilson, senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote to KQED in an email.

Wilson said the proposed initiatives will require additional funding, and suggested a policy adopted by Colorado and other states as a path forward.

“Several states have implemented a small fee for e-commerce deliveries that funds electrification programs, incentives, and grants. Colorado’s program, which levies a fee of $0.28 per delivery and exempts small businesses, generated over $75 million over its first year,” Wilson said.

Given California’s far larger e-commerce revenue, Wilson wrote, the state could make hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

“With refineries closing across the country and corporate polluters constantly increasing their profit margins, Californians can’t afford to be trapped by gas,” Mary Creasman, chief executive officer at California Environmental Voters, said in a statement.

The majority of California’s planet-warming emissions come from transportation — the same is true nationwide.

California has regulated its own vehicle pollution since the 1960s, before the Clean Air Act was signed into law in 1970. The state has a history of awful air pollution, including days when people couldn’t see beyond a few blocks in Los Angeles in the 1960s because of the smog.

Given that record, the federal government granted California the authority to set its own emissions standards, as long as they were stricter than federal rules. The state rules would then require approval from the EPA through “waivers” for the final stamp.

In his first term, Trump’s EPA revoked California’s waiver for tailpipe emissions, but California sued in response. Former President Joe Biden reinstated the waiver in 2022.

California again sued after Congress revoked key EPA waivers for California in May of this year, including one rule that banned the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.