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Connecticut and five other eastern states are teaming up to intervene in support of a federal rule to regulate interstate air pollution, authorities say.

Attorney General George Jepsen said Friday his office, along with state energy czar Dan Esty, and their counterparts in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont, joined in a motion filed this week to intervene in a legal challenge pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency rule requires significant reductions in nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, the precursor pollutants of ozone and fine particulate matter, beginning Jan. 1, in states that contribute to high or unacceptable air pollution levels in downwind states.

The rule specifically identifies Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland as downwind areas affected by the pollutants emitted by sources in upwind states.

"While Connecticut has stringent laws controlling sources of air pollution emissions, the same cannot be said of other states," said Attorney General George Jepsen. "The EPA proposed a rule that controls sources of pollution in other states, which would otherwise blow into our region. We are working to ensure that this rule is not overturned," Jepsen said.

"The EPA framework is a positive first step in addressing this issue and Connecticut, with the other states, is committed to seeing that air pollution transport is addressed," Esty said.

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