[JURIST] A coalition of 12 states, three cities and several environmental groups appealed to the US Supreme Court [official website] Friday in a bid to force the federal government and Environmental Protection Agency [official website] to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) "greenhouse gas" emissions from personal automobiles, citing the link to global warming. Read a National Environmental Trust press release announcing the lawsuit. The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] denied a request to review the case in August, in a 4-3 decision, and earlier ruled [opinion, PDF] 2-1 that the US government does not have to regulate CO2 emissions from cars and trucks.

The EPA claimed in 2003 that Congress did not grant the EPA authority to regulate emissions from personal automobiles under the Clean Air Act [text], and therefore the EPA was powerless in the situation. The DC Circuit Court did not reach the question of whether the EPA has the authority to regulate emissions from cars and trucks. Friday’s appeal to the Supreme Court claims, however, that the EPA was wrong in coming to its conclusion. Reuters has more.