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THE US is wrestling with its conscience over global warming. While the federal government continues to turn its back on the Kyoto treaty, eight states and a city are suing some of the world’s largest power companies in an effort to limit carbon dioxide emissions. And the companies targeted are American.

Observers say that the lawsuit could herald a wider trend in the US to circumvent the federal government and take unilateral action to curb the effects of global warming.

California, Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, New York and New York City claim that CO₂ churned out by the utility companies constitutes a public nuisance owing to its effects on climate change, and is in breach of a law designed to protect property owners from the actions of their neighbours. They want to force the companies to reduce their CO₂ emissions by at least 3 per cent each year for 10 years. “If we do not act soon, the steps that we will need to take to prevent global warming will be much greater,” New York attorney-general Eliot Spitzer said last week.

The five companies – the Ohio-based American Electric Power Company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Southern Company, Ohio-based Cinergy Corporation and Xcel Energy, serving the western and midwestern states – together produce 10 per cent of US CO₂ emissions, more than the whole UK, says Spitzer.

The states say they are launching the action in a bid to “fill a breach” left by the federal government, which has “abdicated responsibility” for tackling CO₂ emissions. A simple way to limit emissions, the states say, would be to list the gas as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, alongside other gases such as sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain. But the government has refused to do so, despite appeals. The utility companies say they will fight the legal action.