In yet another state- and locality-driven legal maneuver aimed at environmental protection, both New York State and New York City have asked to intervene in three federal cases in which coal mining companies and other industry interests are challenging the EPA’s legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants under section 111 of the Clean Air Act, according to city Law Department news release and a copy of the motion to intervene.

The state and city are part of a coalition of 30 states and local governments, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who together have filed the motion to intervene in the three lawsuits, according to the Law Department and the intervenor motion. The three lawsuits are part of a larger set of cases consolidated by, and pending before, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.