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States threat to sue Bush administration on pollution

By Adam Pasick

NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Seven states threatened on Thursday to sue the U.S. government to force a crackdown on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, a response to the Bush administration's policy of asking companies to voluntarily control pollution.

Attorneys general from New York, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington said the Environmental Protection Agency should update its list of pollutants to include carbon dioxide because the so-called greenhouse gas traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

Led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, the states said they were forced to act after the Republican Bush administration, rather than instituting mandatory controls, gathered agreements in recent months from utilities, automakers and oil refiners to voluntarily curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

"The EPA has been eaten alive by the companies it is supposed to be regulating," Spitzer said in a conference call with reporters. "We felt obligated to respond with what we believe is a genuine effort in enforcement."

The United States is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Bush refused to participate in the 1997 treaty on greenhouse gases negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, saying it would be too costly.

A letter from Spitzer to EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman warned of the states' intent to file a lawsuit within 60 days that would force the agency to undertake a mandatory review of carbon dioxide from power plants as a pollutant.

The proposed litigation is related to a lawsuit announced in January by Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts that centered on designating carbon dioxide as a "criteria pollutant" under the Clean Air Act.

The current criteria pollutants, designated as hazardous to human health and subject to EPA standards, are carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, ozone, particulate matter and sulfur oxides.