The Potrero Generating Station operated for over a century in various configurations, generating electricity from fossil fuels on the waterfront at Potrero Point. The plant's smokestacks were a visible reminder of the industrial uses that once dominated San Francisco's southern shoreline. As residential development encroached and environmental awareness grew, the plant became the focus of community opposition. Neighbors and advocates documented air quality concerns, particulate emissions, and the disproportionate burden placed on communities of color living in its shadow.

The campaign to close the Potrero Generating Station was part of a broader environmental justice movement in San Francisco's southeastern neighborhoods. Bayview-Hunters Point and Potrero Hill residents argued that their communities bore an unfair share of the city's industrial pollution, from the power plant to the former naval shipyard to the sewage treatment facilities concentrated in the area. The plant's closure, which occurred after the development of alternative energy sources made the facility less critical to the city's grid, was celebrated as a victory for environmental justice. But advocates noted that the contamination left behind required extensive remediation.

The 23-acre site is being redeveloped as a mixed-use neighborhood with housing, commercial space, and waterfront access. The redevelopment represents the latest chapter in the transformation of San Francisco's industrial waterfront. Where smokestacks once stood, apartments and parks are planned. The change is welcome, but it raises familiar questions about who will benefit: if the housing is priced for the market, the community that fought to close the plant may be priced out of the neighborhood the closure made desirable. The generating station's story does not end with its demolition. It ends with what gets built in its place, and for whom.