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SAN FRANCISCO — An environmental group has filed papers in a federal court here to intervene in the California Farm Bureau Federation’s most recent suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend the exemption of farms from air quality regulations. 

The Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed documents in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, saying the agriculture industry needs to be regulated to help cut down pollution in Central California, which has one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation. 

The 95,000-member Farm Bureau has been fighting air regulators since May after the EPA settled a lawsuit with environmental groups to hold farms accountable for pollution from diesel water pumps and animal waste. Farms have had an exemption from air pollution regulations for 26 years. 

The Farm Bureau wants the exemption continued another three years so more scientific studies can determine how much pollution farms create. 

Much of the state’s agriculture would be unaffected by the new regulations, the EPA said. Large farming operations, such as dairies with thousands of cows or farms with many large diesel water pumps, would have to file for a federal air permit. 

Two weeks ago, a federal judge dismissed the Farm Bureau’s lawsuit challenging the EPA’s final decision on the settlement with environmental groups, saying the agency’s ruling had not been officially published yet. 

The Farm Bureau filed a new suit last week, challenging the EPA’s final decision published in the Federal Register.