Readers Write: Mining and jobs, climate, pediatric gender care, court-martial, Trump's transparency

After reading the open letter regarding the permit process for the PolyMet mine ("In light of revelations, halt the permit process," July 1), I felt the need to respond to ensure that workers' voices aren't forgotten in this debate.

My union, the United Steelworkers, has represented generations of miners and thousands of other workers throughout Minnesota. We also have, for decades, worked closely with employers and community and environmental organizations to ensure that our workplaces do not blindly exploit our natural resources. We supported the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and co-founded the BlueGreen Alliance with the Sierra Club.

That's why I felt strongly the need to respond in this case. While we agree that the permit process must be transparent and reliable, we also must not forget the important role mining plays and will continue to play in Minnesota's economy and in the green economy of our future.

Thousands of workers in Minnesota depend on mining jobs like those at PolyMet to support their families and communities. Mining pumps nearly $2 billion a year into Minnesota's economy and provides $60 million annually to the state's public schools.

Materials from Minnesota's mines are also essential to building a greener economy. Hybrid cars, rechargeable batteries and solar panels are made with materials from these mines.

As this process moves forward, I hope that Minnesotans do not fall into the trap of believing that we must choose between good jobs and a clean environment. We must fight for both, or we will have neither.

The writer is the international president of the United Steelworkers.

President Donald Trump, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and other officials with authority to determine energy policy have (1) weakened the Clean Air Act by loosening rules regulating coal burning power plants, (2) attempted to roll back fuel efficiency standards for autos, (3) suppressed Department of Agriculture research on how climate change will affect crops, and (4) severely limited the regulatory and research role of the EPA.

These efforts fly in the face of the National Climate Assessment and the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The effects of a 1.5- to 2-degree rise in global temperatures will result in serious human and financial consequences here in the U.S. and devastating consequences in Africa and far eastern countries.

Therefore, these public officials should be charged with crimes against humanity. Climate change denial should disqualify any person from seeking public office or appointment to influential government positions.

A letter writer in the June 29 opinion section cited the American College of Pediatricians in supporting claims that providing services to gender nonconforming youth does not improve their lives and is dangerous ("Medicalizing identity hurts kids"). The letter also said that high percentages of children (whose gender dysphoria is claimed to be secondary to a variety of unrelated mental health disorders) who are "confused about their sex" will be "comfortable in their own skin" if denied services.

The many dubious assertions aside, readers need to know that the ACP is not the organization that represents the collective knowledge and best practices of the pediatric profession — that would be the American Academy of Pediatrics. The ACP is a right-wing propaganda organization dedicated to denying LGBTQ people the opportunity to participate in public life (including the right of same-sex couple to adopt). It hides behind its professional-sounding name in the same way that "pregnancy crisis centers" lure women in with the promise of help, and then misinform and coerce them.

The services provided by children's gender health programs are professional, measured, sensitive. They save lives. If people who receive transition services continue to face challenges, it is not because those services are a failure. It is because of the failure of the society (under the influence of hateful messages, such as those being told by the ACP), to give them the chance to live lives free from discrimination and violence.

During the month we celebrate 50 years since LGBTQ people fought back against oppression at the Stonewall Inn, and at a moment at which the slaughter of trans women of color continues unabated, the distortions portrayed in this letter are harmful and disgusting. Services to trans and gender nonconforming children are life-saving and necessary. It is clear, though, that the intervention that will save and improve lives is one that needs to occur on the societal level.

May the court martial of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher impel a national truth-telling.

The testimony has been rough — recounting allegations of sadistic infliction of suffering, celebrating death, defiling the dead and the intentional killing of civilians, youths and prisoners. A medic's account of conducting a "mercy killing" of one teen prisoner (whom Gallagher was charged with stabbing to death, but not found guilty) is bad enough, but even more troubling is that medic's explanation that the "mercy" was to prevent the torture of the wounded youth by our Iraqi allies.

Too many veterans carry heavy memories from their war experiences. Within the brutalities of war — called a moral sewer by one military chaplain — people do things they would never think of doing in other situations. The moral compass spins.

Military law and ethics set limits on harming and killing in the heat and the morass of conflict. One goal of these rules is to protect the ongoing humanity of service members, most of whom will survive and return to civilian life. Accountability is important; impunity corrupts.

But Americans tend to prefer the sanitized simplicity of good guys and bad guys. Meanwhile, too many veterans suffer from memories they're afraid to share.

Let us have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission with supported community forums and pardons for those veterans who tell the truth. Hearing each other, our society can share the burden and make better-informed decisions, and our veterans can heal at last.

President Donald Trump told reporters that what he says to Russian President Vladimir Putin is "none of your business."

I beg your pardon, sir. You work for us. It is all our business.

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