Democratic governors from Maryland, Delaware and six other Eastern states yesterday asked the Environmental Protection Agency to impose controls on coal pollution they say is damaging air quality in their states.

The aggrieved states want EPA to force nine “upwind” states — Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — to join them as part of the Ozone Transport Region (OTR), which would trigger tougher emission controls.

Three OTR states headed by Republican governors, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maine, declined to join in the petition.

The states’ filing came the day before the Obama administration is set to defend its air pollution rules before the Supreme Court and a federal appeals court.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments today on EPA’s 2011 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), which was struck down last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The D.C. Circuit, meanwhile, is scheduled to hear challenges to EPA’s December 2011 mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) for power plants.

More: The New York Times; The Baltimore Sun; Connecticut Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection