Reagan's colossal fish story

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Hard to believe that three giant mammals could be tossed about in the flotsam of a presidential campaign. Yet last month, the whales trapped in the Alaskan ice flows found themselves helplessly caught up in a nationally-televised news conference by Ronald Reagan.

With a nod to fellow "environmentalist" George Bush, Reagan announced that a helicopter would be sent in to help the whales. During the next few days, the White House put in as many as three telephone calls a day to monitor the rescue attempts.

What kindness! What bravery! And what a coverup! The U.S. government's effort to save three whales rivaled the World Series for prime-time television coverage. Meanwhile, little was said (and even less is done) about pollution destroying the entire marine environment—and threatening people living on the shoreline.

In Puget Sound, at least a dozen whales a year wash ashore with their livers exploded because of pollutants. Near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, dead beluga whales are found with enough PCBs, pesticides, and mercury in their bodies to be classified as But whales are not the only inhabitants of these areas. People eat poisoned seafood from the bays. We drink chemical-laden water from At almost the same time that President Reagan was crying crocodile tears over the three whales, the Interior Department gave the go-ahead for oil explorations along the Alaska coast. The oil companies were granted permission to set off seismic explosions right in the midst of the whales' migratory routes.

The U.S. government could care less about whales—or any species, for that matter. The demands of the oil corporations and the "toxic dumps."

the tributaries. other capitalists take precedence.—M.S.