The appeal was filed yesterday with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
It challenges the EPA's granting of an air pollution permit which would exempt Avenal power center from current air quality standards.
The permit authorizes the building and operation of a 6-hundred megawatt plant.
The environmental groups say the plant won't have to meet air pollution requirements adopted in 2009 for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions because the EPA took too long to process its application.
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State and local farmers are split over proposals to send more water from northern California to the south.
Two-thirds of Californians rely on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta, and farmers rely on it to cultivate 4 million acres.
But the decline of fish species has triggered regulations that limited pumping in recent years.
Farmers and urban water users south of the delta have rallied around plans for a new canal.
They say the new system would capture and divert river water around the delta to ensure an adequate supply.
Delta farmers argue the plans would primarily benefit water districts.
Officials hope to agree to a plan by June.