SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for denying its first-in-the-nation greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles, and New Mexico said it will join the suit.

The action, filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, challenges the Bush administration's conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards.

New Mexico is one of 12 states that have adopted the California emissions standards, and it will join California in defending them, Environment Department spokeswoman Marissa Stone said.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on Dec. 19 denied California a waiver it needs under the federal Clean Air Act to move forward with regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and trucks.

"There's absolutely no justification for the administrator's action," Attorney General Jerry Brown told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "It's illegal. It's unconscionable, and a gross dereliction of duty."

In announcing his decision, Johnson said the federal government was moving forward with a national solution and dismissed California's arguments that it faced unique threats from climate change.

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

In an e-mailed statement, EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said the federal Energy Independence and Security Act "is a more beneficial national approach to a national problem, which establishes an aggressive standard for all 50 states — as opposed to a lower standard in California and a patchwork of other states."

California officials contend their 2004 law is tougher than the new national standard. 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, setting a deadline four years earlier than the new federal law.

Over the next eight years, California's standards would reduce carbon dioxide output from vehicles by 17.2 million metric tons, more than double the 7.7 million metric tons that will be achieved with the federal fuel-efficiency standards, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols.

"(EPA officials) are ignoring the will of millions of people who want their government to take action in the fight against global warming," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "That's why, at the very first legal opportunity, we're suing to reverse the U.S. EPA's wrong decision."

"Today, there is simply no environmental issue more compelling — or extraordinary — than the increasing threat of climate change," New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "Greenhouse gas emission standards for cars are a logical and necessary step to effectively combat global warming."

Last month, car dealerships in Albuquerque, Belen and Carlsbad sued New Mexico agencies, including the Environment Department, in federal court to block New Mexico's regulations, which would apply to the 2011 model year. The lawsuit contends that the tougher standards conflict with the Clean Air Act and are pre-empted by federal law because they would "supplant and conflict with federal law and regulations governing the fuel economy of new motor vehicles."

New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry called the lawsuit a waste of taxpayers' money. He also said the rejection of California's waiver was "an unprecedented move to block states from implementing stronger environmental standards that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and address global warming."

The EPA's decision was a victory for automakers, who had argued they would have been forced to reduce their selection of vehicles and raise prices in the states that adopted California's standards.

It was the first time the EPA had fully denied California a waiver under the Clean Air Act since Congress gave the state the right to obtain such waivers in 1967.

Brown said the EPA has tried to kill a legal, viable policy tailored to help California deal with projected consequences of global climate change. Rising seas could erode the state's coastline and top its levees, while warming temperatures are expected to reduce the Sierra snowpack, leading to a potential water crisis. "To curb the innovative efforts of California and other states makes no sense," Brown said.

During a news conference announcing the lawsuit, he said the EPA's decision appears to have been made after "White House pressure, automobile influence or some other lobbying pressure."

Brown filed the suit in the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit, which is viewed as more friendly to the state's position than other federal courts. He said he expects the Bush administration will seek to have the case transferred to the more conservative federal appeals court based in Washington, D.C.

"We understand this is a long fight that may go to the Supreme Court," Brown said. "We feel this is going to be a struggle."

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler LLC, Toyota Motor Corp. and six other automakers, favors the federal plan, spokesman Charles Territo said. "We agree with EPA that a national policy is important to avoid a patchwork quilt of state regulations," he said.