Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly´s office is leading the coalition in petitioning the Supreme Court to review a decision issued last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Massachusetts had sued the EPA in the D.C. Circuit Court, arguing that the EPA had the responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

The case began in 1999 when various environmental groups requested that the EPA set motor vehicle emission standards for greenhouse gases. In October 2003, state and local governments, along with environmental groups, filed a court challenge to the EPA´s decision not to do so. In July 2005, the Circuit Court ruled that Massachusetts and the environmental groups could not force the EPA to act.

"Delay has serious potential consequences," Reilly and the other appellants argued in their brief to the Supreme Court. "Given that air pollutants associated with climate change are accumulating in the atmosphere at an alarming rate, the window of opportunity in which we can mitigate the dangers of climate change is rapidly closing."

The EPA had argued that it lacked authority from Congress to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, but the D.C. appeals court never ruled on that argument. However, the court found that the EPA correctly relied on the findings of the National Research Council that global warming "cannot be unequivocally established."

"If ever there was a case that warranted Supreme Court review, this is it," Reilly said. "We owe it to our children and grandchildren to address the problem of global warming."

Other states challenging the EPA in the case are California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. New York City and Baltimore also are parties to the lawsuit, as are nearly a dozen environmental and advocacy groups.