Attorneys General from across the United States are taking on the fossil fuel industry and forming a “first-of-its-kind” climate change coalition to hold polluters accountable, amplify progress made under the Obama administration and pump up efforts ahead of the new presidency.

Attorneys general from Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut and the Virgin Islands, join Eric T. Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, who is currently investigating whether Exxon Mobil lied to shareholders and the public about the threat of climate change.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is also leading the joint effort that aims to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Clean Power Plan” against legal challenges.

Obama’s Clean Power Plan establishes a nationwide framework to achieve meaningful and cost effective reductions of carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants and provides states and power plants flexibility to decide how best to achieve these reductions.

“We cannot continue to allow the fossil fuel industry or any industry to treat our atmosphere like an open sewer or mislead the public about the impact they have on the health of our people and the health of our planet,” said Gore during a news conference on March 29.

Amidst political back-up, Schneiderman emphasized that it’s up to the states to fight against any potential plans “to roll-back the meaningful progress made over the past eight years.”