Letters to the Editor | March 14, 2025

As a kid growing up in West Philly, it was a great privilege to be exposed to nature through Outward Bound trips. The impact was so profound that after graduating from Central High School, I chose to pursue a degree in environmental studies. I am now raising my son next door to my childhood home while working as an environmental justice advocate. I work to oppose corporations exacerbating the climate crisis, including the gas companies that former Mayor Michael Nutter defended in a recent op-ed.

The need for a transition to sustainable energy sources is clear. However, across the country, gas industry leaders are insistent that their fossil fuels are not contributing to the problems we see laid out before us. They have convinced conservatives that the industry’s political and financial contributions are worth opposing renewables, investment in a clean energy labor force, protective regulations, and fairly taxing plants for reinvestment in impacted communities.

To improve their standing, the gas industry needs to immobilize the left, so they are targeting Black and brown millennials like me, and hiring former elected officials like Nutter to spread misleading information.

Gas lobbyists should be ashamed for using low-income people’s vulnerability as an argument for exporting more gas, as Nutter recommended in his op-ed. Natural gas prices have risen 50% since exports began in 2016. Our most disenfranchised and mistreated populations are held at the mercy of an industry that burdens poor and Black and brown populations with pollution and increasingly expensive energy bills. The U.S. Department of Energy cited a resulting increase in domestic costs as a reason to slow liquefied natural gas exports last year, which means if Nutter cared about affordability, he’d be arguing against permitting LNG.

Our communities deserve better from our governments and from our utility companies. The shortsighted thinking that has brought us to this moment is only deepening the hole we are in. My 1-year-old baby deserves better. Philadelphia deserves better.

Daniel Farmer, Philadelphia

In responding to a U.S. Supreme Court order declining to block the deadline for the payment of humanitarian assistance the Trump administration had halted, Justice Samuel Alito bleated about the majority decision. He was “stunned” that it did not block the district court judge’s power to order the administration to pay funds allocated by Congress. His shock is laughable. He is the author of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. To support his opinion, he cited Justice Byron White’s dissenting opinion in the 1986 Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists decision: “Decisions that find in the Constitution principles or values that cannot fairly be read into that document usurp the people’s authority, for such decisions represent choices that the people have never made and that they cannot disavow through corrective legislation.”

Despite that guiding principle, Alito avidly signed on to the majority Supreme Court decision that grants immunity to presidents who commit crimes in office, a decision that ran afoul of the principle he previously found important, and itself deserved a resounding no. That decision was a true stunner. Alito’s current complaint shows he continues to be guided more by his conservative values than by the law. That’s not stunning.

Stewart Speck, Ardmore, speckstewart@gmail.com

Every day since this administration began, we’ve endured a relentless stream of catastrophes and injustices. Measles outbreaks. Plane crashes. Attacks on federal workers and immigrants, our country’s backbone. Threats to Social Security, to cancer treatment development, to the health care of children, veterans, elders. Donald Trump shamefully hawks for Tesla.

This is just a tiny fraction of the onslaught. And adding infinite insult to injury, much of this chaos is being perpetrated by unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his shifty DOGE crew.

The cruelty has to stop. Democrats may not hold official positions of power, but that doesn’t make them powerless to use their leverage. Recently, House Republicans voted to pass their spending bill, and the Senate will vote before the government is due to shut down Friday. This is a moment where Senate Democrats can hold their ground, reject further inhumane funding cuts, and demand guardrails on an unfettered Department of Government Efficiency.

Of course, no one wants a government shutdown. I can empathize with Sen. John Fetterman’s feeling, as he puts it, that he won’t “burn the village down to save it.” But the village is already burning. By acting early, with urgency and conviction, maybe we’ll save our chance to rebuild it.

Anne Park, Philadelphia

In her recent column, Helen Ubiñas aptly describes the edict given by Felon 47 making English the official language, and the harassment faced by those who speak with an accent. As I’ve said before, my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and I were immigrants. My parents and grandparents spoke with Yiddish accents. They went to night school to learn English, determined to build a better life in America.

When I was in seventh grade, I was called to the principal’s office. I was scared to death, not knowing if I had done something wrong. Instead, they wanted to see if I spoke English. I was very embarrassed — after all, I had been in school since kindergarten. The assumption I might not speak English simply because I was the child of immigrants was humiliating and isolating.

The beauty of America has always been its diversity. Immigrants have enriched this country with their cultures, languages, and contributions. To insist on an “official language” while dismissing those who speak with accents is not only un-American but a denial of our nation’s history. Instead of creating divisions, we should embrace the voices that make this country what it is — a land of opportunity for all.

Sandy Berenbaum, Richboro

The Eagles have officially accepted an invitation to the White House. What a game! What a season! What a team! What a disappointment!

Tom Lees, East Norriton

I’m disgusted to learn the Philadelphia Eagles football team has accepted Donald Trump’s invitation to the White House. I don’t know who spoke for the team. I wonder if that person might be the team‘s owner, in which case one must ask what that owner’s political position is. Trump is sending us straight into economic disaster. He has made it clear he doesn’t like people of color and women. So giving him the honor of receiving our team is an insult to our city.

Ed Hermance, Philadelphia

As a very longtime Philadelphia sports fan, I recognize that this past Eagles season was perhaps the finest of any Philadelphia team ever. Unfortunately, their decision to go to the White House on April 28 represents a serious blemish on this spectacular season. While I can understand that under normal circumstances the opportunity for the players and staff to meet the president of the United States is a genuine honor, current times are not at all normal. The man occupying the White House at present is bent on destruction, chaos, and helping only the wealthiest Americans while hurting almost everyone else in the process. He is bringing shame and disgrace to our country, and I encourage the Eagles to reverse their decision and instead spend time that day to make a tangible statement on behalf of all Americans to protest the actions of the current administration.

Marc Inver, Lafayette Hill

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