Arnold has the right idea. Use force to get some action.

That line of thinking sounds tougher coming from Gov. Schwarzenegger, but Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is flexing muscle, too.

California, Minnesota and 16 other states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency to get the federal agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.

This is another step in a continuing battle that shouldn’t be happening. A year ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the EPA has the authority to regulate emissions from new cars and trucks and said the reasons the EPA cited for declining to do so were insufficient.

So here we sit, still waiting for the EPA to do anything.

Tired of playing the waiting game, state officials put pressure on the EPA by filing a petition last week that asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to require the EPA to act within 60 days.

Schwarzenegger sums up the frustration of states this way: “(The EPA) has failed to lead, it has failed to follow the states’ lead and we are prepared to force it out of the way in order to protect the environment.”

States that want to make environmental changes are being delayed by the federal government’s inaction. And acting independently hasn’t gotten states anywhere, either. The EPA also has quashed state efforts in California and elsewhere to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cars.

Instead of states having a checkerboard of standards — which not only is less effective, but is a headache for the automotive industry — the federal government needs to establish emission regulations and quit stalling.

As Swanson says, court decisions ought to have teeth and ought to mean something.

States have used this last resort of suing the agency more than once, trying to get the EPA to move on regulating power plant emissions to trying to stop it from disclosing less information about toxic chemicals.

Clearly the leaders at the EPA are misconstruing what “Protection” is supposed to mean when it comes to its mission.