Thank you, Post-Gazette, for the Oct. 4 articles "Toxins Tied to Fish Kill" and "What Can Be Done With Wastewater?" Thank you, but you guys don't get it.

So what if the salt levels of the Monongahela River were so high from gas-drilling wastewater that it damaged dishwashers, water heaters, pipes, caused the water to taste and smell bad and damaged machinery at U.S. Steel operations and Allegheny Energy? When those two have to make snitch reports to the Department of Environmental Protection, we have entered Bizzaro world.

Come on, what's the matter with creeks being pumped dry to drill for natural gas? It's progress.

Come on, who eats the fish from Dunkard Creek anyway? Buy them at the store. Swim in swimming pools. Buy your water in plastic bottles. The gas companies and drilling operators will bring jobs to Pennsylvania. So what if 35 miles of one the best creeks in the Appalachians have been killed? Why depend on the Arabs for our energy? They don't have many bass or trout creeks and they're rich.

If there's a real problem with our freshwater resources the Pennsylvania Legislature will cut the DEP by 25 percent and not tax the drilling companies because that would be bad for our state. And imagine the pro-drilling hype: "Come to Pennsylvania: No DEP and No Taxes!" They have wisdom and our best interest at heart.

Come on, tree huggers, trust big business and our Big Pennsylvania Legislature. Who needs fresh, clean water anyway?

"Drill, baby, drill!"

DAN WYSE
Upper St. Clair

A worse fate

Cindy Ninesling wrote, "natural gas companies are bound by very strict federal regulations" ("Drilling Means Jobs," Oct. 15 letters). This is not entirely true. The oil and gas industry enjoys broad exemptions from every one of our federal environmental statutes. Her letter also leaves a false impression that all is well with drilling in Texas.

The Trinity Aquifer in Texas now has a plume of toluene from a gas well blowout during a frack job. Several animals died from drinking the water and the residents are now left with unusable water. One family lost everything -- business and home -- because they couldn't afford the expense of hauling water. The company responsible says there is no proof, although toluene is commonly used in drilling. A Cheney-era exemption from our Safe Drinking Water Act allows the drillers to escape responsibility because fracking is unregulated.

In DISH, Texas, a tiny town of 200, with several compressor stations and pipelines, three young women have suffered strokes, many people are sick and animals have died. A recent ambient air study showed toxins, carcinogens and neurotoxins at "amazing and very high levels." There is no other industry in or near the town.

Unemployment is high in Texas. Many of the drilling jobs are only temporary. However, what good is a job if you lose your health or if your water and air are contaminated?

There are some things worse than unemployment. Ask the citizens of DISH and areas in the Barnett Shale.

SHARON WILSON
Decatur, Texas
The writer is a member of the steering committee of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

About labeling foes

Letter writer Barbara White expressed her unhappiness at conservatives being labeled racist for disagreeing with President Barack Obama. Does she not remember just a few short months ago, others were labeled for disagreeing with President Bush -- unpatriotic?

President Obama has been called every epithet in our language, and you complain about conservatives being labeled as racist? When President Bush was unpopular, a lot of conservatives told us "he was the president, get over it." Good advice that is still applicable.

I wish I had written the last paragraph of your letter -- eight years ago: "So, please allow me to be the loyal American that I am."

CYNTHIA L. SPANNUTH
Upper St. Clair

I've had it, too

So Barbara White ("Conservatives Have Had It With Being Labeled as Bigots," Oct. 10) has had it with being called a bigoted conservative.

Well, I've had it with bigoted conservatives lying about Barack Obama's religion.

I've had it with bigoted conservatives lying about Mr. Obama's citizenship.

I've had it with bigoted conservatives lying about Mr. Obama's attempts to reform health care.

I've had it with bigoted conservatives cheering the bigoted conservative Glenn Beck's saying on national TV that Mr. Obama "hates white people and hates white culture."

I'm tired of bigoted conservatives making a hero of a bigoted conservative, white, Southern congressman becoming the first congressman to heckle a president during that president's address to Congress.

I've had it with bigoted conservatives like Rush Limbaugh referring to Mr. Obama as a "Halfrican American," making "Barack the Magic Negro" a sort of bigoted anthem, and rooting from Day One for Mr. Obama to be a failed president.

I've had it with bigoted conservatives equating Mr. Obama with Mao, Stalin, Hitler or a dead chimpanzee.

I've had it with the snarky, racist e-mails bigoted conservatives gleefully forward to each other (you bigoted conservatives out there know which ones I'm referring to.)

I've had it with bigots and I've had it with conservatives, and it seems to me that there's at least a 90 percent overlap between them. And I would venture to say that this overlap existed long before anyone ever heard of Barack Obama.

But the vile behavior of conservatives since Mr. Obama became our president has certainly proved it to me with finality.

PAUL E. VONDRA
Bellevue

Obama's Nobel

Awarding Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is akin to awarding Sarah Palin the Nobel Prize in Literature for her not-yet published book. Awards should be based on actual accomplishments, not expectations or empty rhetoric.

The Nobel Committee and the PG have both embarrassed themselves.

RALPH HIRSCH
Point Breeze

Murphy's fine record

Thank you, Bob Cranmer, for not allowing us to forget the successes of Tom Murphy's tenure ("Pittsburgh's Debt to Tom Murphy," Oct. 13).

I often take for granted the riverfront trails that allow me and others to run and bike along the Monongahela from Downtown almost to West Homestead east, along the Allegheny to Millvale northeast, and along the Ohio almost to Bellevue northwest.

I enjoy visiting my friends in their Summerset homes built on top of a useless, non-tax producing slag heap. I sometimes find myself near what used to be dilapidated high-rise housing projects and see mixed-income housing there now. Mr. Murphy said that these housing projects were just warehouses for the poor and the city will be better if these residents had a real chance to succeed. I still recall the significant decline in crime led by Murphy's pick Police Chief Robert McNeilly and hope that we can continue to build on his progress.

If Mr. Murphy had a major fault, it was his wanting so badly for the city to excel that he couldn't wait for others to jump aboard more slowly. May we all share his love for this city and his desire for it to reach its full potential.

KENNY STEINBERG
Squirrel Hill

Give us more insight on the mayoral candidates

With Pittsburgh's mayoral election on Nov. 3 fast approaching, I'd like to see more coverage of candidate Franco "Dok" Harris. We have all heard and seen what Luke Ravenstahl can do and it's time to learn more about Dok.

Having had the opportunity to hear him speak at a campaign event, I can tell you firsthand that he is inspiring. I then turned to our local papers and the Internet to learn more about his platforms. I learned that Dok marched in the Women's Walk for Peace in Northview Heights on Oct. 3. He has also visited Hazelwood and Lawrenceville to express concern about their libraries being forced to close.

What I didn't learn was why the other candidates weren't at these events. It seems like Dok is all over the city, yet there remains very little press about what he is doing. As a registered voter and active member in my community, I feel it only right to have my newspaper report on Dok and the other candidates in the mayoral race.

As voters, we deserve to have sufficient coverage of our candidates to allow us to actively learn who the best choice is to lead our great city. During the remaining mayoral debates, I'm looking forward to learning more about Dok and the other candidates.

BETH GOLDSTEIN
Shadyside

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