MONONGAHELA TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- By the light of a crescent moon early yesterday morning, six Greenpeace activists snuck through a Greene County power plant's gate and scaled a 700-foot-high smokestack.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Greenpeace activists scaled a 700-foot smokestack at the Hatsfield's Ferry power plant in Greene County yesterday to hang this banner to protest the Bush Administration's energy plan. Click photo for larger image. More photos See additional pictures in today's Photo Journal

In the dimness, the six protesters, equipped with climbing safety gear, food, water and a 2,500-square-foot sign, climbed up ladders connected to the red, white and brown stack at the Hatfield's Ferry power station in Monongahela Township, about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Station owner Allegheny Energy was unaware of the protest until about 9:30 a.m. when it got a call from The Associated Press, informing the company that activists from the environmental group were inside the plant gates protesting what Greenpeace calls "dirty energy."

Four of the protesters stopped at a platform about 500 feet up, while two other members of the smokestack six continued to the top. At about 1 p.m., those two protesters unfurled a 122-foot-long black and yellow banner they had hung from the top of the stack.

It read: "The Bush Energy Plan Kills."

Lynn Stone, one of the protesters standing on the 500-foot-high platform, talked by cell phone with reporters. She said that the Hatfield's Ferry plant was chosen for the protest because it's a symbol of "dirty power."

"It was built in the 1960s and still emits like a car built in the 1960s," she said.

Because activists successfully breached the plant, their protest created a second, and unintended, spotlight on the plant's security.

Allegheny Energy officials promised to look into that, but they said the plant complies with all federal, state and local laws.

Once word got out in the community of a giant sign with a skull and crossbones, capped by a cowboy hat with a large W on it, gawkers arrived at the plant on Route 21. But they were shooed away by police and plant officials.

Passers-by honked, in apparent support of the demonstrators. One worker, as he left the plant in his pick-up truck, yelled, "Go Greenpeace."

Neighbors, who have long-complained of ash emitted by the plant, also gave Greenpeace the thumbs up.

Tim Hunyady, who lives in a hollow on the Fayette County side of the Monongahela River, about a half-mile from the plant, said of the protesters, "They ought to give them a medal."

Stone conducted news media interviews from the smokestack all afternoon as she and the other protesters stood in the shade behind the banner. The protest continued until after the 6 p.m. news. Then, at about 6:30, the protesters began lowering the banner.

The protesters began their descent from the stack around 8:15 p.m., but with all of their provisions and the long climb down, it wasn't until after midnight that they all were back on the ground and taken into custody.

As the protesters began to pack up, state police Trooper Joseph Christy, spokesman for the Greene and Fayette barracks, said he was glad to see the banner go. Otherwise, he would have had to charge the six with littering if they left it behind.

Still, police planned to charge them with defiant trespass and other violations. But it wasn't clear whether they would face felony or misdemeanor charges.

Christy and other officers remained in phone contact with the climbers and had been assured nothing but a peaceful demonstration was planned.

Virginia Lee Hunter, Greenpeace Three members of Greenpeace take a break after climbing the smokestacks at the Hatsfield's Ferry power plant. Click photo for larger image.

When pressed about why they did not bring the protesters down from the stack, Christy said, "I'm not going up there."

Stone, who has climbing experience, said none of her fellow protesters feared heights.

"I'm very committed," she said, "and those concerns overrode any fear I had."

Greenpeace activist Terri Swearingen, of East Liverpool, Ohio, said from the ground, "This protest is no more dangerous than the smoke coming out of that stack."

Greenpeace spokesman Chris Miller said the Hatfield's Ferry plant is among the 15 worst polluters among coal-fired power plants in the country and had been under investigation by the Clinton administration. He said that action was dropped by President Bush.

The plant burns some 3.5 million tons of coal a year.

Steve Corcoran, 57, of Masontown, a coal miner for 23 years, said he believes coal should be used for energy, but not without pollution controls. He said he complains of the noxious releases from the plant several times a week to the plant manager.

Rose Fetko, who has lived within a mile of the plant for 20 years, said ashes cover her furniture constantly.

The plant, with two cooling towers and two 703-foot stacks, is one of 10 coal-fired plants Allegheny Energy operates. It employs 150 people.

This was not Greenpeace's first stack scaling, but it was the first in about a decade, said Nancy Hwa of Greenpeace.

In addition to Stone, Hwa said the smokestack six were identified as Jessica Miller and Renee Blanchard, both of Washington, D.C.; John Watterburg, of New York City; Josh Raisler-Cohen, of Portland, Ore.; and Virginia Hunter, whose address was unknown.