Giant Eagle should fill grocery store voids

The announcement that the privately owned Giant Eagle store in Lawrenceville will close soon is another example of inconsistent community relations from the Giant Eagle Corp. management ("Lawrenceville Laments Impending Loss of Its Giant Eagle," July 17). Giant Eagle's long-standing refusal to place a store in the Hill District and its apparent disinterest in finding a solution to the Lawrenceville situation are at odds with the company's stated commitment to this region.

Through its marketing budget and the Giant Eagle Foundation, the company funds many charitable events and projects. How can these worthy deeds, however, compare to leaving families in two major communities without convenient access to grocery goods?

The Giant Eagle Corp. has profited in the hundreds of millions of dollars over the years from the patronage of its customers in this region. While both a Hill District and a Lawrenceville store might initially operate at a loss, Giant Eagle should be willing to absorb those losses as a service to Pittsburgh. This would be a true measure of the philanthropy the company claims to provide.

DIANE BALCOM
Shaler

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To help or not

This is in response to "Council Moves to Protect Drink Tax" (July 15). Someone should probably remind Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato that we supposedly live in a free-market, capitalist society. If left alone by government, supply and demand will balance out any problems.

If the Port Authority goes bankrupt, another transit system will move in, because there is high demand. This is why free markets work so well, because when a company that is monopolizing the system with high prices starts to fall under, citizens have the choice to go somewhere else.

The only question to the voters should be: "Do you want to help the Port Authority recover from debt?" Once that answer is established, we can then move on to the means of helping or not helping. I believe taxpayers should have a say in who and what they're helping. I fear those days are slowly fading away as government takes more control of our lives and our decisions.

SARAH KERIN
Union

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Include dirt bikers

As the manager of a motorcycle dealership, I'd like to see some thought given to integrating a dirt bike track into the proposed sports complex in Coraopolis/Moon ("County Unveils Plan for Sports Complex," July 9). We sell numerous dirt bikes to families and encourage them to take their bikes to purpose-built riding facilities, but the closest are in Butler, Slippery Rock and Wampum. While some families may have woods and trails on their property, I'm sure many find it necessary to ride on public and private lands without permission.

The three nearest dirt bike facilities, 40 to 50 miles out of Pittsburgh, are busy, profitable complexes, charging up to $25 for a day's riding. The site in Moon may not be large enough to allow a full-out off-road facility, but even a small track in or around the facility would generate income for the complex and allow Allegheny County families to ride locally and legally.

While I was pleased to see the sports complex would include soccer, lacrosse and rugby pitches, lots of our customers and their kids would enjoy riding their bikes -- dirt-bike riding is a sport -- as conveniently as other kids play field sports. Dirt bikes are growing in popularity each year -- the Motorcycle Industry Council estimates nearly a quarter million dirt bikes will be sold in 2008 alone -- and it would be nice for Allegheny County to be a leader in providing a recreational facility for these athletes.

KIMBERLEE LOVE
Controller
West Hills Honda
Moon

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Reasons to resist

Skyrocketing gas prices are causing some individuals to renew calls to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. In rebuttal, I present "The top 10 reasons not to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

10. This special place is so rich and diverse in wildlife it has earned the nickname "America's Serengeti."

9. It's a crucial birthplace for polar bears. Human disturbance can cause the bears to leave their dens, which can be fatal to dependent cubs.

8. It's the key site for the magnificent Porcupine caribou herd to bear their young.

7. The refuge hosts more than 160 resident and migratory bird species, including snow geese, tundra swans and sandhill cranes.

6. Are you smitten by charismatic predators such as wolves, grizzly bears and Arctic foxes? The refuge has them!

5. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that less than a six-month supply of oil could be economically recovered from the refuge.

4. It would take at least 10 years of exploration, drilling and pipeline construction before the oil would ever reach refineries.

3. Road building, drilling, pipelines, processing plants, air strips, pollution and oil spills have high potential to cause significant and lasting environmental damage, all for short-term gain.

2. We could save more oil by increased fuel efficiency and conservation measures than exists in the refuge.

1. It's a refuge, stupid!

R. PICARDI
Greenfield

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Roadway rudeness

Regarding the July 16 letter "Bus Driver Arrogance": I have to agree with Dan Seidling. The Port Authority bus drivers are very rude; they see no one else on the streets but themselves, it seems. I myself have witnessed how one of the bus drivers almost ran over a pedestrian and it was awful.

I am new to Pittsburgh and the biggest joke is how you don't cross the street or drive in front of a Port Authority bus, because they will run you over without a thought. The Port Authority bus drivers need a reality check; they do not own the streets.

JO-ANN BECKOM
Mckees Rocks

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Old energy technologies have run their course

Letter writer Nathan Gerencir writes: "First, the waste products from nuclear power plants have never killed, or even injured, a single U.S. citizen, including the events at Three Mile Island" ("Our Nation Needs the Benefits of Nuclear Power," July 16).

Of course, waste products from nuclear power plants have killed citizens of other countries -- witness the workers and guards at the Chelyabinsk nuclear waste dump when it blew up in 1957. By specifying "U.S. citizen[s]," Mr. Gerencir stacks the odds.

He goes on: "In contrast, the fly ash generated by coal power plants has more radiation than nuclear waste (Dec. 13, 2007, Scientific American) and studies show that more than 30,000 people a year die from the fine particulates released from coal-fired power plants."

Probably true. But he is here offering a fallacy of bifurcation -- "it must be either coal or nuclear." Not so. Electricity from burning coal and electricity from nuclear fission are both old technologies that have run their course. The future lies with solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind, ocean thermal, geothermal, tidal, wave and biomass power.

BARTON PAUL LEVENSON
Greenfield

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Think smaller

In the July 16 letter "Our Nation Needs the Benefits of Nuclear Power," Nathan Gerencir refers to an article in last December's Scientific American. Indeed, the article says nuclear waste is less radioactive than the waste from coal-fired power plants. But the author, Mara Hvistendahl, is comparing apples to oranges in the article by using the term "waste."

She is actually comparing emissions from the daily operations of the two types of power plants. But nuclear waste is hightly radioactive and must be stored for hundreds of thousands of years. The accident at Chernobyl in 1986 resulted in the release of huge amounts of this waste and the results of that accident will reverberate for years.

We were lucky when the accident at Three Mile Island was contained and did not result in an explosion, but more than 40,000 curies of radioactive substances were released.

Nuclear may not even be the quickest solution to our energy problems. Solar and wind are much easier to harness and available to individuals. We continue to be duped into thinking big about the answer. Even the discussion of biofuels seems to be centered on the large-scale production with the resulting food crisis. The earliest usage of biodiesel was by farmers who produced their own. We need to take personal responsibily for our energy use.

MARIE SCHURR
Hickory

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