California sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday for denying its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, challenging the Bush administration’s conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Other states — including Massachusetts — are expected to join the lawsuit, which was anticipated after the EPA on Dec. 19 denied California’s request for a waiver, required under the federal Clean Air Act. The lawsuit was filed in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson denied the waiver, saying it would result in a patchwork of state regulations. At least 16 other states had been expected to follow California’s lead and adopt the state’s tougher emission limits.

“There’s absolutely no justification for the administrator’s action,” Attorney General Jerry Brown said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s illegal. It’s unconscionable and a gross dereliction of duty.”

Mr. Johnson said last month that the federal government was moving forward with a national solution and dismissed California’s arguments that it faced unique threats from climate change.

Mr. Johnson said energy legislation signed by President Bush will raise fuel economy standards nationwide to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. He said that was a far more effective approach to reducing greenhouse gases than a patchwork of state regulations.

California officials have said their 2004 law was tougher. It would have required the auto industry to cut emissions by one-third in new vehicles by 2016 or reach an average of 36.8 mpg.

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