BREAKING-- NIMBYs oppose power plant

This is a story that could be in the can, left to simply fill in the blanks:

A group of residents and environmental activists shut down the main gate of a power plant in Hunters Point on Wednesday to protest pollution they say is sickening neighborhood children and years of what they consider broken promises to close the facility.

Braving a strong cold rain, the protesters called on the plant's owner, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., to close the power station next year, criticizing a recently announced agreement that would shut the plant by the end of 2006.

"This plant is a destroyer of our lives and our well being,'' said Marie Harrison, a member of the Hunters View Tenants Association. "You can't just keep overlooking the people. This plant could have been shut down three years ago, and the lights would not have gone out.''

San Francisco and state officials are working on a plan to close the PG&E plant and a facility owned by Mirant Corp. on the city's central waterfront east of Potrero Hill. But state authorities want to ensure that if the plants are shut down, the power they produce will be replaced through new sources of energy and upgrades.

Having the cake and eating it too is always the toghest thing to do...