PJM must be transparent in decisions on energy, AI
As the cost of electricity continues to rise for Pennsylvanians amid tangible concerns surrounding resource-sucking, planet-killing artificial intelligence data centers (not to mention a steadfast and aggressive defunding of clean energy solutions by our federal government), we must ensure our electric providers have our best interests in mind.
PJM Interconnection, the company responsible for managing the electric grid in all of Pennsylvania and beyond, largely makes its operational decisions behind closed doors. When PJM makes a decision that results in the cost of your bill going up, or dangerously chooses to defund clean energy solutions, you may not know it until it’s too late.
PJM is actively delaying new energy projects, hurting working-class people in the process.
I am calling on state Sen. Lisa Boscola and the relevant powers-that-be to demand PJM make their decisions in a more public and democratic manner.
Until we achieve a future where the people can co-opt the utilities that we depend on, we cannot let private institutions bend to the whims of corporate greed. We must continue to push back against harmful uses of energy and the dangerous rise of artificial intelligence. If not for us, for humanity’s future.
Dominic Trabosci
Easton
Don’t blame immigrants for health care crisis
Contrary to the Trump administration’s repeated and false claims that undocumented immigrants are driving a health care crisis, the true threat to health care access actually stems from the policies implemented by those very same accusers.
Undocumented immigrants, in reality, contribute to programs like Medicare through their tax payments, even though they are unable to access these benefits themselves. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 clearly distinguishes between “qualified” and “nonqualified” immigration statuses to determine eligibility for federal public benefits. Undocumented immigrants are classified as nonqualified, making them ineligible for most federal programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies. Their medical care access is largely restricted to emergency services, debunking the lie of “free health care for illegals.”
Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Act is projected to negatively impact 24 million Americans, a majority of whom identify as Republican or MAGA, by significantly increasing their health insurance premiums. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the average annual premium payment for subsidized enrollees could more than double in 2026, with an average increase of 114%.
Should the cuts not be reversed, the detrimental consequences will fall directly upon U.S. citizens and legal residents, with the president and Republican lawmakers bearing sole accountability.
Monica Galarza
Allentown
George Washington’s warning proved prescient
In 1796, our first president, in his farewell address, deemed excessive partisanship the primary danger facing the new nation. He warned that political parties could become “the engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and usurp for themselves the reins of government.”
Now, 229 years later, his warning has become reality. Historical events like 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic eroded trust in government institutions. Growing wealth inequality and changing demographics have fostered an “us” vs. “them” mentality for millions of Americans. Social media has supercharged their resentment against the “establishment.”
In response to these events, the Republican Party has become cultlike in its unwavering loyalty to an individual who has channeled the resentment and mistrust held by millions of Americans into a powerful political force.
Trump’s power lies in his ability to define, for his followers, the “them” — Democrats, immigrants, elites and globalists. They are to blame for Americans’ hardships and only he can provide “retribution” against these perceived enemies and restore America to its “greatness.”
Washington and the other founders warned of the danger of a demagogue. We ignored the warning.
Rich Israel
Bethlehem
Many reasons to protest Donald Trump, administration
On Oct. 18, thousands will again protest Donald Trump, protesting the actions of someone who acts like a king instead of president of our democracy.
We will object to the way he rules by executive orders instead of bipartisan legislation, which more than 1,000 legal scholars this year called a constitutional crisis; the way he fires people who disagree with him and labels them the “enemy within”; the way he employs masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest undocumented immigrants without due process in violation of our Constitution; the way he withholds funds from universities and blue states but works to enrich his own family; the way he violates the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by sending troops into states against gubernatorial approval.
Litigation Tracker cites 190 active cases challenging Trump’s actions.
Recently this administration tried to use its influence to silence comedians. While living in Russia, I experienced this kind of assault on free speech.
Donald Trump does not act like a president. He calls leaders who disagree with him “stupid” and uses name calling to degrade people, something that we teach children not to do. Plainly stated, he rules like a bully, not a president.
Margaret Bilheimer
South Whitehall Township
Prioritize recycling, composting over expanding landfills
The proposed expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill, which is already the size of 65 football fields, would pose serious risks to the Lehigh River, groundwater and local ecosystems. Without expansion, the landfill will reach capacity by 2028, but the solution cannot be to sacrifice our environment for more trash. The community should not bear the burden of waste produced elsewhere. Too often, wealthier regions export their trash instead of addressing the root problem. Expanding landfills would lock us into pollution, as leachate already contains PFAS, “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and birth defects.
Instead of expanding landfills, the Lehigh Valley and other regions should prioritize stronger recycling programs and adopt composting policies, as states like Vermont have done successfully. Protecting clean water and public health must come before short-term profit. The future well-being of Bethlehem residents and our environment depends on it.
Caroline Ronchini
Bethlehem
The writer is a junior at Lehigh University.
ELECTION LETTERS
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