As expected, nine states of the NE USA have started proceedings to sue the US government over its revised New Source Review rules, which they see as helping the operators of older coal fired power plants and other industrial facilities avoid air pollution controls (See MPS Dec 02 p 11 for full story). Prevailing winds in the US would carry air pollution to these states from industrial areas in the midwest. The consortium – Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont – filed the lawsuit with the US Court of Appeals in Washington.