CHELSEA, Mass. -- The battle over a proposed power plant in Chelsea that would provide backup power for the region is heating up.

NewsCenter 5's Rhondella Richardson reported Thursday that community leaders in Chelsea, Revere and East Boston said the diesel plant would pose a serious health risk to the area, which is already the third most environmentally overburdened plant in the state.

Six acres adjacent to the Chelsea Creek, a former oil tank farm, is being considered for the Chelsea Peak Energy Project, a diesel fuel facility.

"It's a combustion turbine. It's just a different word, but it's a totally different combustion process. It is much cleaner," Energy Management Inc. project manager Matt Palmer said.

"I think they are full of baloney," said George Rotondo, of Revere City Council

The company proposing the Cape Wind Project for Nantucket Sound is also behind the power plant.

Residents are fed up with the emissions from the big rigs going by and the existing neighborhood pollutants. Many residents, who walked the contaminated grounds said not in my back yard again.

"This company that is proposing good, clean, renewable energy for the rich folks of Nantucket, while poor, low-income communities of color like Chelsea get diesel-burning power plants. I mean, how ridiculous is that?" Chelsea City Council President Roseann Bongiovanni.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the level of diesel exhaust in Chelsea is five times higher than the U.S. average. It's even higher at the site for the proposed facility. Diesel pollution has been linked to cancer, asthma and heart attacks.

"Since I moved to Chelsea, I've had nothing but headaches and sinus problems from the air quality here," resident Catherine Massa said.

The proposed 500,000-gallon fuel tank would be built up to 89-feet high across the street from Burke Elementary School, and it would have a direct pipeline to Gulf oil storage tanks.

Project mangers promise it would reduce pollution from older plants in Everett and Salem, and it would only operate during very hot and very cold weather.

There's no way to know for sure how much pollution would come from the proposed facility. The Department of Environmental Protection said that the adjacent Gulf facility is one of the worst polluters in the state.