At an electric vehicle showcase in Anaheim, Christopher Grundler — one of the top executives in California responsible for cleaning the air — said despite all the setbacks his agency has faced this year, he’s confident the state can keep making progress.

“This president, this Congress, will not kill the electric car,” said Grundler, a deputy executive officer of the state Air Resources Board. “They won’t kill the electric truck, and they certainly won’t kill the California spirit.”

Despite that optimism, California officials — now reined in by the Trump administration and growing concerns about affordability and costs — are struggling to come up with new ways to clean up the nation’s most polluted air.

Lacking federal permission to set aggressive emission standards for the first time in almost 60 years, California may be left mainly with voluntary agreements with the auto, trucking and rail industries, and subsidies to entice consumers into buying electric vehicles.

Congress last month revoked the state’s authority to implement three landmark rules that ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 and phase out diesel trucks. In addition, California was forced to abandon four other ambitious rules for zero-emission trucks, locomotives and commercial harbor craft because the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency would be unlikely to grant waivers.

Those seven mandates, now unenforceable, were key to cleaning up the pollutants that leave about 34 million Californians regularly breathing unhealthy air. In another blow to California’s efforts, Congress and President Donald Trump eliminated tax credits for consumers who buy electric cars.

At the same time, California’s air quality rules are facing growing pushback from the public, industry — and even some Democrats in the Legislature — because of the impacts on gas prices and other economic concerns.

Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph, in an interview with CalMatters, did not offer any details on how the agency will make up for the voluminous tons of smog-causing gases and soot those rules would have eliminated.

“There’s no one strategy that’s going to work. It’s really going to need to be a suite of different things,” Randolph said. The governor and Legislature will help decide “what strategies are going to be the most effective, the most cost effective, the most likely to be able to scale up,” she said.

The air board is hosting four meetings in the coming weeks to hear ideas from industry groups, environmentalists and community members about how the state should now approach clean air regulation.

In an executive order last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the air board to develop a new zero-emission car mandate — apparently in preparation for when the state either wins its lawsuit against Trump or when he leaves office.

Newsom also ordered the air board to develop a plan by Aug. 11 to keep expanding California’s market for electric cars and trucks. As part of the plan, the state agency must consider ways to improve charging infrastructure and offer incentives.

“We know that the federal government is going to be completely useless in our efforts to clean the air, despite rhetoric claiming they care about clean air. State and local governments are going to have to do more,” said Adrian Martinez, an attorney with the San Francisco-based environmental group Earthjustice.

“We just have to go it alone.”

Heart and lungs at stake

It’s been a long, bumpy road to cleaning up exhaust from California’s 36 million vehicles. Gas-powered cars and diesel trucks remain the state’s largest sources of smog and soot despite decades of cutting emissions.

Much of that pollution is inhaled by the most vulnerable Black and brown communities near ports, highways and warehouses. Ozone, a smog-causing gas, and fine particles of soot are linked to premature deaths from heart attacks and respiratory diseases, and increased emergency room visits.

For six decades, a provision in the Clean Air Act has granted California the power to set its own vehicle standards that are stricter than the federal government’s because of the state’s unique and severe air pollution problem.

But last month, Congress invoked the Congressional Review Act to repeal waivers granted by the Biden administration. The state in its lawsuit called this an unlawful action by Congress.

John Dunlap III, who served as California Air Resources Board chair under Gov. Pete Wilson in the 1990s, said in an interview with CalMatters that the Newsom administration “pushed too fast, and I think there were some holes” in their zero-emission car and truck rules.

Dunlap said by moving forward despite concerns about inadequate charging infrastructure, cost and the impacts on trucking, California regulators sent their critics straight into the arms of a more sympathetic federal government.

“They’ve been all in on zero-emission technology, which is great. It’s been a priority. But, they haven’t really cared to dialogue much, if at all, with the users of technology, particularly truck fleets,” he said. Dunlap was chair in 1996 when the board repealed deadlines requiring sales of electric cars because the technology wasn’t ready.

Under the landmark rule adopted by the air board in 2022, all new cars sold in California would have to be zero emissions beginning with 2035 models, ramping up from 68% in 2030. For trucks, California enacted two rules, one in 2020 and then one in 2023 that would phase out new diesel trucks by 2042. None will now be implemented.

Automakers say the rules were too aggressive and would have led to manufacturing job losses, higher car prices and limited consumer choices.

“The auto industry has invested billions in electrification and has 144 electrified models on the market right now. Again, the concerns were about the mandate — not the technology,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation said in a statement.

Conservatives say the air board is an unelected board that wields too much power. (Its members include appointees from Newsom and the Legislature, and local elected officials.) A Democrat in the Legislature last month urged Randolph, the board’s chair, to resign because the agency hasn’t analyzed the economic costs of its rules.

One new clean-air rule, the revamped Low Carbon Fuel Standard implemented last week, was met with widespread, vehement criticism from elected officials and industry since it will raise the price of gasoline by an unknown amount.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District — responsible for regulating industrial plants and products that pollute the LA basin’s air — recently rejected rules phasing in zero-emission water heaters and furnaces.