Letters to the Editor | Nov. 13, 2022

Nov. 8 was National STEM Day, celebrating one of the fastest-growing industry sectors with ample employment opportunities. It’s estimated there will be 3.5 million unfilled positions in the field by 2025, and we’re witnessing this growth firsthand in the Philadelphia region, a life sciences hub. To ready a diverse talent pipeline, we must expose our youth to STEM at an early age and encourage cost-effective pathways to higher education where they can learn new skills required by STEM employers. To achieve this, collaboration among our region’s industry and educational organizations will be critical. An example is the Challenger Learning Center at Montco Pottstown. In its first year, the center aspires to uniquely engage more than 7,000 students throughout the region in grades five through eight. A STEM career can transform destinies and future generations. We must do everything we can to prepare youth for this life-changing opportunity.

Victoria L. Bastecki-Perez, president, Montgomery County Community College

I am deeply dismayed that The Inquirer would provide a platform for Jennifer Stefano to spew her false and divisive lies about what she calls Democrats’ hypocrisy on crime. In questioning the political motivation behind the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, Stefano has chosen to ignore all of the facts while giving a wink to the shameful false conspiracy theories that have been proposed. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall any Democratic Party leader spreading lies after the 2017 attack on Republican Rep. Steve Scalise. Instead, I recall outrage and condemnation; a response that Stefano chooses not to remember. If Republicans are truly interested in preventing crime rather than scoring political points, they would support rather than oppose a ban on the type of assault weapons that have been used to kill schoolchildren. Where is the hypocrisy?

Jay Kuder, Topsham, Maine

Findings in the final report of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery explosion by the Chemical Safety Board deserve deeper analysis. It determined that the cause of the explosion was a rupture of steel piping with high nickel/copper content that corroded due to hydrofluoric acid exposure. The CSB noted that industry guidance has been available since 2003 recommending inspection of all carbon steel piping in the alkylating unit, but that PES had not instituted pipe inspections. The report noted that catastrophic injury to the local population due to hydrofluoric acid exposure was avoided, but called this incident “a wake-up call.” The Environmental Protection Agency’s mission of protecting the public can not be served by deferring important safety practices to the discretion of industry. I strongly urge the EPA to promulgate regulation that codifies pipe inspections in alkylating units to better protect the public from catastrophic release of hydrofluoric acid in the future.

Marilyn V. Howarth, Gladwyne

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.