Letters: Government regulations do damage

TO QUOTE your misleading editorial: "But no one yet has shown real evidence that regulations cause a net loss of jobs or harm the economy." You didn't look hard enough. Right here in our back yard a hodgepodge of regulations are threatening 20,000 jobs. I speak of the announced shutdown of the Sunoco and Conoco refineries in Trainer and Marcus Hook.

According to Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, in Harrisburg, and a former employee of the Conoco refinery: "The myriad of regulations dictating the composition of gasoline, diesel and other products along with other requirements on emissions has forced the industry to spend massive sums of money to comply. As someone who worked many years in the industry, I can tell you that the industry warned these mandates would likely have economic consequences. Yes, we need regulations that ensure that our air, water and soil do not present a danger to human health or the environment. However, the push to chase the last few molecules of pollution become prohibitively expensive and we need to continually ask whether these more recent regulations are truly effective. Both Sunoco and Conoco had to factor in the very real threat of additional regulations from Washington into their decision."

In addition, the refineries constantly have to change the mix of chemicals for gasoline and diesel fuel to adjust for changing seasons. These refineries are set up to refine "light, sweet" crude oil, not the heavy, sulfurous crude (which has a more severe impact on the environment than light crude) from countries like Venezuela.

Regulations, no matter how well-intentioned the unelected bureaucrats in Washington are, can and do have a very real impact on jobs.

Keith A. Barger

Philadelphia

Barack and a hard place

Instead of trying to dig up dirt on the Republican candidates for president, why don't you try vetting President Obama? Ask him why he has installed so many communists, socialists and radicals into this administration. Ask him to reveal his school records. Ask him to name some of his fellow students. Better yet, try to find some of his fellow students. I dare you to do these things. I know you won't, since the American media, for the most part, has become state-run. You only ask Obama preapproved questions. I notice how flustered he became when an ordinary citizen asked him a question while on his bus tour. He can only answer what he knows the questions will be.

Why doesn't he tell his pals on the left to tone down their vile rhetoric? Also tell Obama that Chicago might put up with corruption and intimidation, but the rest of America will not.

Pat Dougherty

Philadelphia

Box-er rebellion

I've been following the recent actions of Mayor Nutter with much interest. One, known as the "ban the box" bill, takes away an employer's right to ask if the person who hopes for a job has ever been convicted of a crime or served a prison sentence as a result of a conviction. The other is the Mayor's Commission on African-American Males, which examines that group's lack of education, health care and employment.

To say, years after affirmative action was put into place, that African-American males and former felons in the city of Philadelphia aren't getting a fair chance is just plain wrong. For instance, Local 98 IBEW just had two all-minority apprentice classes. Some say that the union was forced to do it by the city government. Others say that the union wasn't taking enough minorities into their apprentice program, or following affirmative-action policies or legislation that was passed to force the union to do so.

I don't want to come off sounding radical, but what has happened to getting a job on your work ethic? What has happened to being a hard worker and landing a good job? What has happened to hiring the right person for the job? The reason that people don't want to hire former criminals is because, in the public's eye and the eye of the employer, they can't be trusted. Would you take the chance?

With "ban the box," the former felons might get an interview now but they still won't get the job. So, taxpayer money will be wasted again. The hiring process will be longer. Why? Because when the right person for the job should be getting interviewed, the former drug dealer and thief will.

Theodore Conway

Philadelphia

Byko, bikes and bias

Stu Bykofsky: Your article is about as biased as they come. I cycle more than 3,000 miles a year, and consider myself a safe cyclist.

There are, of course, cyclists that are rude and obnoxious, just as in any segment of society, but my experiences on the road have been, all too often, with distracted and discourteous drivers. I have even had one guy tap my rear wheel and, fortunately, I was controlled enough to not get hurt. Roads are meant to be shared. I fear that your article simply spews abject hatred of cyclists and will only serve to inspire more rage against cyclists.

Nice job!

Michel Zadoroznyj

Saddle Brook, N.J.