Thanks for [News, "Smelling Faults," Jenna Portnoy, March 16, 2006]. Sludge is not only the flush of the toilet, it is anything that is washed down the drain from businesses, industry, hospitals, funeral homes, dry cleaners, etc. It can contain up to 60,000 harmful ingredients. They cannot, and do not, test for everything in sludge. I am an anti-sludge activist; please tell [Mid-Atlantic Biosolids Association founder] Bill Toffey that he is a lying sack of sludge!

Judy Fasching
Via E-mail

Why didn't the writer or the editor of [News, "Who Is Stacey Zallie?" Doron Taussig, March 16, 2006] think to ask: Does the foundation also offer counseling and resources to women who became depressed after offering a child up for adoption? This supposed "non-choice" stance is disingenuous. It's anti-choice by effacing these other issues, particularly those stemming from giving a baby up for adoption.

Keith Durrett
Via E-mail

Although vanpools provide temporary relief [from long commutes for inner-city Philadelphia residents who work in the suburbs], even our enterprising friends at the Philadelphia Unemployment Project [News, "A Much Needed Lift," Kevin Haney, March 9, 2006] would agree that there are also larger issues of unfairness here that are part and parcel of Philadelphia urban life.

It's not fair that Philadelphia doesn't have enough good local jobs to feed its population. It's not fair that our taxes generously subsidize the automobile and highway-building industries that fuel suburbia while we in Philadelphia are forced to make do with a shoddy public transportation system. It's not fair that employers in suburbia do not acknowledge the hardships of their urban workforce, offer them van service to bus stops and rail stations, or reimburse them for mass transit or vanpool costs. It's not fair that SEPTA doesn't reduce its fares for low-income workers, doesn't take them where they need to go and doesn't have a board that properly represents the interests of its Philadelphia ridership, who pony up most of the costs. Finally, it's not fair that money for public transit should have to follow a path as convoluted as the three-hour commutes some Philadelphians take to work. Instead, money for public transit must have a direct source of safe, secure and permanent funding that we all can rely on for the long haul. And we need elected leaders in Harrisburg and Washington who genuinely care about the difference.

David Odell

Green Party of Philadelphia's Transportation Working Group

Most people join AAA for roadside assistance, not so someone will lobby in their names against environmental programs, or spread misinformation on the City Paper Web site [News, "Two Minutes With Ted Leonard," www.citypaper.net]. AAA exec Ted Leonard wants people to believe that the group's campaign to repeal the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program is no big deal, because they support the impressive-sounding "Federal Tier II" auto emission standards. The Tier II standards are the weakest auto emission standards allowed under federal law.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Clean Vehicles Program will achieve an approximately 10 percent reduction in smog-forming emissions, 15 percent reduction in cancer-causing emissions and 30 percent reduction in global warming emissions beyond the Tier II default. Those are extremely significant, low-cost pollution reductions for a region saddled with poor air quality. While not mandated, the Clean Vehicles Program is also expected to improve gas mileage by about 30 percent and to increase the number of hybrid options available for sale in the state, saving motorists money and expanding consumer choice. It may be inconvenient for the auto industry, but this is a win-win policy for Pennsylvanians.

Arthur Stamoulis

Director of Government Affairs, Clean Air Council