Harrisburg pols should pay us a visit

It's apparent that state Sen. Mary Jo White ("Marcellus Misinformation," June 23 Perspectives) has never spoken to anyone who lives near and loves Dunkard Creek. If that were the case, she would not be relying on secondhand and selectively interpreted information to behave as a PR flack for the natural gas industry.

There's photographic evidence and eyewitness testimony that reveal that water-hauling trucks were discharging into a poorly secured borehole at Consol's closed Blacksville mine. I've witnessed water-hauling trucks drawing from or discharging into Dunkard Creek at Pigeon Hole. Residents of nearby Gerards Fort have observed similar activity occurring at Whiteley Creek, although in far greater volume. The West Virginia and Pennsylvania departments of environmental protection knew of the elevated total dissolved solids levels in Dunkard long before the golden algae bloom ... and did nothing. Nothing! Why?

Locally, there's no confidence that Harrisburg pols will regulate Marcellus Shale drilling when so many of them are dependent upon industry handouts. It's a hard lesson learned from longwall coal mining, which devastates Greene County and puts actual citizens out of their very real homes.

The senator needs to dismount from her high horse, visit Greene County and talk to people who've been victimized by gas drilling. We may be out of sight, but that doesn't mean we should be out of mind.

Although we're the poorest county in Pennsylvania, and frequently treated like a Third World country, we support a drilling moratorium. We'd heave a sigh of relief! Our basic human rights to clean water, clean air and the safety and security of our homes must be protected.

JULIEANN F. WOZNIAK
Bobtown, Greene County