New York - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Wednesday announced he is leading a 15 state coalition that is joining a lawsuit brought by California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to uphold the right of states to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from automobiles.

The federal Clean Air Act grants California -- exclusively among all states -- the power to enact its own air pollution standards for cars.

The Clean Air Act also allows other states to adopt California’s standards, but those standards can only take effect if the EPA grants a waiver exempting California from federal regulation. 

However, the EPA denied California’s request for a waiver on December 19, 2007, saying that allowing states to impelement greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars would create a “confusing patchwork” of legislation.

The California standards, adopted in September 2004, would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from cars by 30 percent by 2016.  New York adopted California’s standards in December 2005, and at least 15 other states have now either adopted or plan to adopt the California standards. 

The lawsuit, which seeks to reverse the EPA decision, was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The other states or state agencies joining New York in intervening in the suit are: Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.