Environmental groups challenge Desert Rock decision A coalition of seven environmental groups, represented by Earthjustice attorney Nick Persampieri, Thursday filed a challenge to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's July 31 decision to grant an air permit for Desert Rock. Desert Rock Power Plant is the 1,500 megawatt pulverized coal-burning plant proposed near Burnham, about 30 miles southwest of Farmington on the Navajo Nation. "We feel EPA placed the public health and the environment at risk by not doing a number of required analyses before it issued the permit," Persampieri said. The challenge to the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., enumerates five main points it states were not addressed in advance of the permit. "This was a politically motivated decision to issue the permit in response to Sithe's suit against EPA," Persampieri said. "EPA caved in to the pressure and issued the permit without doing the analyses."....