TOPEKA, Kansas (Legal Newsline)-- Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and partners are asking the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn state regulators' rejection of two proposed coal-fired power plants.

The state Department of Health and Environment rejected the Kansas-based utility's applications to build two 700-megawatt plants near Holcomb, Kan., citing increased carbon emissions and the projects' impact on global warming.

The utility has argued that the state does not regulate carbon emissions, so state Department of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby's decision in October to block the project on those grounds was illegal.

Sunflower filed a lawsuit in Finney County District Court along with one of its partners, challenging Bremby's decision.

The lawsuit was dismissed Tuesday because the case needs to be heard by a higher court since its an appeal of a regulatory permit, Judge Philip Vieux ruled.

"That issue is decidedly within the hands of the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court," Vieux said.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.