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What power shortage? To this day energy executives continue to blame the California energy crisis on an electricity supply shortage brought on by California's tough environmental regulations.

But you never hear them gripe about how difficult it is to retire a power plant, even if it's one of the oldest and dirtiest in the state. Consider the Hunters Point power plant, which soon will likely hold a permit to pollute the Bay Area for another five years.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which owns the Hunters Point plant, is on record supporting its closure. The city of San Francisco also supports closing the plant, and the city even intends to install a set of gas-fired power plants, called combustion turbines, to supply electricity in its place.

Still, as the city gets the go-ahead for developing its combustion turbines, we may be no closer to shutting down the Hunters Point plant than ever before.

The California Energy Commission voted April 21 to begin evaluating San Francisco's application to build three combustion turbines at the eastern foot of Potrero Hill, an area where air pollution is already among the worst in the city.

But last October the California Independent System Operator, which controls the state's electricity grid, indicated that three turbines wouldn't be enough to close the Hunters Point plant. That raises the prospect that the city's power plants may run simultaneously with the Hunters Point one.

The Bay Guardian called Jesse Blout, who's steering the combustion turbine project for the Mayor's Office, to ask why the city didn't include the fourth turbine it already owns in the CEC application, but he didn't return our calls.

Running all of the plants at the same time is a very real possibility, according to CEC spokesperson Chris Davis, who told us the commission would decide on the city's application without respect to its effect on the Hunters Point plant. Shutting down the PG&E plant, Davis said, "is the city's goal, but it's not germane to building the [combustion turbine] project."

Jack Broadbent, head of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, told us the Hunters Point plant will almost certainly be awarded a Title V permit renewal, even though his agency just recently took a position in support of its closure. The permit will allow the plant to operate for another five years under the federal Clean Air Act.

Broadbent said the position on the Hunters Point plant was unprecedented for the BAAQMD and signaled a change in the agency, which he said is becoming more proactive in responding to community concerns. Even so, it will have to be another government entity that tells PG&E to close the plant for good.

"The federal government basically expects for any company if they can reasonably be expected to comply with our regulations, then they are entitled to a permit," Broadbent told us. (Matthew Hirsch)

Bummer for boozers Assemblymember Mark Leno's last-call bill, which would have allowed establishments in areas of San Francisco zoned for late-night use to continue selling alcohol until 4 a.m., barely made it to Sacramento before suffering a resounding defeat (see "Last Call," 4/14/04).

The legislation failed to clear the 24-member Committee on Governmental Organization by a ratio of 5 to 12. Seven committee members abstained from the vote. The measure needed a majority to pass.

"This was an issue that had the support of the Entertainment Commission, the Board of Supervisors, and the Mayor's Office," San Francisco Entertainment Commission president Terrance Alan told the Bay Guardian. "And the Democratic legislators basically walked out of the room" without hearing arguments in favor of the bill.

Alan believes the legislators caved in to pressure from police and anti-alcohol groups despite evidence showing cities with later last-call hours suffer from fewer drunk driver deaths, not more.

"It's an insulting way to deal with a city that's rallied around an issue," he said. (Camille T. Taiara)

Not-so-public records Plans to install a high-tech tracking device at the San Francisco Public Library set off a flurry of complaints by library watchdog Peter Warfield, who charged April 22 at a Sunshine Ordinance Task Force special meeting that library officials had withheld key public records related to the proposal. The task force sided with two of Warfield's complaints, dismissed one and postponed another until its regularly scheduled meeting April 27.

The task force, which arranged the meeting expressly to hear Warfield's complaints, ruled that the library improperly held back public documents and failed to help Warfield locate information about repetitive stress injuries. City Librarian Susan Hildreth has said the tracking system, known as radio frequency identification (RFID), would reduce workplace injuries but hasn't made public a detailed analysis of workers' compensation costs at the library.

The task force also found the Library Commission in violation of the Sunshine Ordinance for withholding an audio tape of the March 4 Library Commission forum on RFID.

Following the task force meeting, Monica Fish of the Board of Supervisors' Clerk's Office told us the task force would have to vote again on Warfield's complaint about a library press release he received past the one-day deadline for an "immediate disclosure request." Five of the seven members at the meeting voted to dismiss the complaint, but the vote required a majority of the 11-member task force, Fish said. (Hirsch)

Get involved The Library Commission is expected to vote on acquiring RFID and a comprehensive privacy policy at its May 6 meeting, 4 p.m., Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin, S.F. (415) 557-4233.

P.S. The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force holds an open discussion with the Community College District Board regarding amendments to the Sunshine Ordinance Wed/28, 4 p.m., City Hall, Room 406, 1 Dr. Carleton B. Goodlett Pl., S.F.