WASHINGTON -- Seven states have filed a joint lawsuit against the Bush administration for its alleged neglect in regulating carbon dioxide emissions, the states said in a statement

Thursday. "While individual states cannot address the problem alone, we can and will continue to keep the pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action," said Massachusetts Attorney

General Tom Reilly.

The EPA is the administration's environmental arm. Joining Massachusetts in the suit is New York, New Jersey, Rhode

Island, Maine, Connecticut and Washington. The states said President George W. Bush administration's current policy regarding carbon dioxide emissions -- the prime

culprit behind global warming -- violates the clean air act. The landmark action seeks to compel the EPA to revise national

regulations governing power plant emissions. According to the states the EPA has repeatedly failed to update the nation's air pollution standards for power plants, despite a requirement from the clean air act that the EPA tests the air's

pollutant levels and revise the standards every eight years. "At a time when the rest of the world is taking steps to reduce CO2 emissions, our nation is not even attempting to slow the growth in emissions ... it is imperative that the Bush administration establish a responsible and forward-looking national environmental

policy," said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. (AFP)