SACRAMENTO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has shifted from land to sea and now to air for sticks to beat the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with over greenhouse gas emissions.

Brown announced yesterday he'd joined several other officials, including the attorneys general of Connecticut, New Jersey and New Mexico, asking the EPA to regulate GHG emissions from aircraft. The issue has recently been debated in the European Parliament.

The Golden State AG made a similar demand for the EPA to regulate emissions from ocean vessels two months ago, LNL reported. He also sued the agency last month over California's vehicle-tailpipe regulations and recently won a suit against the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over gas-mileage ratings for light trucks.

"Aviation is a large and rapidly growing source of greenhouse gases and the EPA should have taken action by now to curb these emissions," Brown told a news coference at Los Angeles International Airport. "Not to do so ignores the tremendous opportunity for technological innovations that can increase efficiency and reduce emissions."

He quoted EPA figures from 2005 showing that aircraft account for 12 percent of transportation-sector GHG emissions and three percent of total emissions. Such emissions will rise by 60 percent by 2025 as air traffic rises, Brown added.

Brown's petition gives the EPA 180 days to respond to his request and begin a formal process of limiting aircraft GHG emissions. Aircraft flying to and from Europe must begin cutting such emissions by 2011, his announcement added.