The Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Grand Canyon Trust on Monday filed appeals with the Utah Air Quality Board, asking that it overturn a decision last month by the state's Division of Air Quality (DAQ) to approve permits for the coal-fired plants near Delta and Sigurd.

The two groups, represented by the Utah Office of Western Resource Advocates, argue that the "Prevention of Significant Deterioration" air quality permits issued by DAQ pose unacceptable health risks for residents and threaten the vistas of nearby Great Basin and Capitol Reef national parks.

"The concerns raised many months ago by our organizations and the National Park Service were not sufficiently addressed by [DAQ]," Grand Canyon Trust spokesman Rick Moore said in a statement. "These parks are natural treasures as well as big engines in the state's economy. They deserve better."

Intermountain Power Plant has proposed a 950-megawatt addition to its Delta facility; a new 270-megawatt power plant has been proposed for Sigurd, in Sevier County.

Rick Sprott, director of the Division of Air Quality said Monday that he had not seen the appeals and could not comment on the specific complaints. But he is not surprised they were filed.

"We've received [open records requests] from Western Resources, so we assumed they would be giving us a petition on one or both of the permits," Sprott said. "We met with them regularly throughout the [permitting] process, so I'm certainly familiar with the questions and issues. And we've tried to address those. With IPP, some significant changes were made in the emission limits. They were made more stringent after comments from the public and the EPA."

Sprott says the division has also received a petition from IPP, which is seeking language changes regarding excessive emissions during plant start-ups and shutdowns.

The conservation groups say that they are "deeply concerned" about the cumulative impacts the two coal-fired plants will have in tandem with the state's five existing power plants - and two other proposed facilities in the Castle Dale and Bonanza areas.

"We believe it's inappropriate for these plants to be permitted in today's environment, considering all we know about coal-related health risks and the more positive options now available," said Tim Wagner, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club's Utah chapter.

jbaird@sltrib.com