WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline)-A group of 18 state attorneys general are pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce laws enacted to curb climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

In a letter Thursday to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the state officials asked her to act in response to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Massachusetts v. EPA.

"On April 2, 2007 the Supreme Court established the EPA's responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act," Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

In Massachusetts v. EPA, the high court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the federal Clean Air Act. The Bush administration never complied with the ruling.

Last year, attorneys general from 17 states, the cities of New York and Baltimore, the District of Columbia, and 13 environmental groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to order the EPA to respond to the Massachusetts ruling.

"With the change in administrations, we're extremely hopeful that the EPA will finally start to do its job under the statute," Coakley said.

In addition to Coakley the letter was signed by attorneys general from: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.