A fallacy about coal could lead to costly policies

The subheadline placed on Jeff Goodell's Sept. 2 Forum piece, "The High Price of Coal," reads: "We've got plenty left ... ." But Mr. Goodell's text says, "Claims about a 250-year supply of coal won't stand up to scrutiny." Indeed, a recent National Academies report on coal states: "Present estimates of coal reserves are based upon methods that have not been updated since their inception in 1974, and much of the input data were compiled in the early 1970s. Recent programs to assess coal recoverability in limited areas using updated methods indicate that only a small fraction of previously estimated reserves are actually recoverable."

And at least four other studies on coal reserves released this year have reached a similar conclusion: Coal reserves are vastly overstated.

Why is this important? Because many politicians and energy lobbyists are proposing billion-dollar policies based on the false premise that "we've got plenty left."

DAN BEDNARZ
Edgewood

---

Similarly impressed

I was most interested to read the Sept. 2 letter from Charles W. Brice ("Eye-Opening ER") about his experience in an emergency room in the United Kingdom. My husband and I have just recently returned from the UK and had a similar experience.

I contracted a nasty upper respiratory infection and found it necessary to see a doctor while staying in a small village in Suffolk. My sister-in-law called the office to arrange an appointment. I was seen by a doctor in a little over an hour after she called. The office was in a nearby small market-town yet was very high-tech. The receptionist and medical assistants were kind and courteous. The doctor similarly was very warm and concerned and very thorough.

I walked out of his office and went straight to a window in the waiting room where my prescription was dispensed in a matter of minutes. I was in and out of the office in less than 45 minutes with prescription in hand. I was not so fortunate as Mr. Brice and had to pay for both services despite being over 60, British-born and holding a UK passport, but I was happy to pay, since the service was excellent as was the care.

We have long been embarrassed that this country has not been able to come up with a single-payer health system that provides health coverage for everyone. How can we lay claim to the best health care in the world when so many of our citizens have no health coverage at all?

BARBARA WATSON
Scott

---

Not a better system

Charles W. Brice's letter ("Eye-Opening ER," Sept. 2) extolling the virtues of England's National Health Service after his wife's utilization of an English emergency department is completely unwarranted and wrong.

As a physician who spent 10 months in an English hospital as a medical student, I witnessed -- firsthand -- repeated atrocities in patient care and safety that would never be tolerated in the United States. From lax sterilization methods to inadequate monitoring of cardiac patients to overt rationing of services and drugs, the English system is markedly inferior to the U.S. system. I suspect Mr. Brice's wife received exceptional care simply because she was American, a practice I often witnessed in the NHS.

Mr. Brice also highlights the fact that he was told "no one pays for emergency treatment in the U.K." and that no one over 60 pays for medication in the United Kingdom. What Mr. Brice fails to mention is that while no one directly pays for these services, substantially higher tax rates more than offset this "benefit."

Advocates of socialized medicine may be wooed by certain aspects of the British system, but the truth is that, even with all its shortcomings, the American health-care system is, by far, superior.

AMESH ADALJA, M.D.
Butler

---

No free rides

I see Charles W. Brice ("Eye-Opening ER," Sept. 2 letters) was amazed at the "free" medical care he got in England, and so fast too.

Well, I, too, Mr. Brice, have been in emergency rooms in this country and received excellent care and walked out in two hours. The big difference between Mr. Brice and me is that I have to pay something (copays, deductibles, etc). Sure, his wife got her care for free because they were visiting, but their English hosts paid for him through taxes, just like we pay for our Medicare through taxes. There are no free rides. I wonder what country he would choose if his wife were seriously ill?

DAVID ROSS
Bethel Park

---

Tourism and transit

"Bring Back Streetcars" by Michael Byrne (Sept. 2 Forum) plucked the strings of my heart. At its peak, Pittsburgh had more than 600 miles of trolley tracks. And that's just the city. Interurban lines connected towns far and wide, i.e, the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler & New Castle Railway, the Butler Shortline. West Penn Railways connected Mc-Keesport, Trafford, Irwin, Jeannette, Greensburg, Connellsville, Uniontown and Fairchance.

Within Pittsburgh, neighborhoods were connected by trolleys. Trolleys were the lifeblood of the neighborhoods. I grew up in a household without an automobile. But at the age of 7, I discovered the Sunday Pass and that I could go anywhere on the streetcars.

The transit division of the Port Authority came into being because privatization didn't work. Pittsburgh Railways was often in receivership. Some bus companies were literally lining their brakes with shoe leather to save money.

I agree with Mr. Byrne -- let's bring back the neighborhood trolleys. San Francisco initiated a "Trolley Festival" on the Market Street line while cable car lines were being refurbished. Trolley service has been extended along the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf. Thousands of tourists ride these lines, as do just as many city residents.

In Pittsburgh, as in San Francisco, this could be a huge marketing opportunity for the Port Authority, which has shied away from the word "trolley," thinking that it sounds antiquated. It could start by taking that circle "T" logo it took from Melbourne, Australia, and Boston and use it to spell out the word "trolley" on the stations Downtown.

JOE BRANDTNER
Beechview

---

Pollution producers

I find it odd that an environmental law student at New York University, Michael Byrne, would suggest bringing back trolleys to Pittsburgh ("Bring Back Streetcars"). He claims that they do not pollute. They run on electricity.

That commodity is not shot through space from Mars. It is produced mainly by coal-fired power plants, like Bruce Mansfield. No, he can't see or smell the diesel exhaust when he's behind a trolley, but he's still breathing the pollution. It's called fine particulates.

Keep the trolleys in touristy places and leave the commuting to those who need it.

WILLIAM J. GALLIK
Crafton

---

Immature reaction

The verbal bashing and lashing that Sen. Larry Craig from Idaho took from his Republican "colleagues" for his miscreant behavior (" 'I Am Not Gay': Sen. Craig Says He Pleaded Guilty in Hope of 'Making It Go Away,' " Aug. 29) once again raises the homophobic flag. Are we ever going to grow up?

DAVID S. CALDWELL
Brentwood

---

A lower threshold for commitment would better serve patients, society

I have made thousands of mistakes in my life, but my worst mistake, the one I lament almost daily, is working with then-state Sen. Louis Coppersmith of Johnstown to pass the state's Mental Health Procedures Act ("Mental Health Law Balances Danger, Rights," Sept. 5).

When I walk about Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and see the sad homeless in the streets, I realize the promise of sufficient community-based health services and facilities was a cruel illusion.

The "clear and present danger" test is a threshold that is too high. We can have a more pragmatic standard and maintain patient due process rights.

The patient privacy provisions have been used by a bunch of politically correct bumblers to protect their own mistakes, laziness or worst. We see the same abuse in children and youth services.

The patients at Torrance State Hospital used to grow their own food, and they seemed happy to have a daily purpose. But along came the politically correct psychology mandarins and called this "institutional peonage." Now, the patients still in hospitals sit around all day, heavily medicated and smoking.

Dr. Trevor Hadley Jr., head of the Office of Mental Health in the Shapp administration, said over the decades the pendulum swings from institutionalization to deinstitutionalization and back, and the "snake pit" cycle lurches on.

BILL SHANE
Indiana, Pa.

The writer was a state legislator from 1971-76.

---

We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.