Reagan Slow to Act on Acid Rain: Mulroney

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who often bills himself as President Reagan’s greatest foreign friend, charged Friday that Reagan has not kept his commitment to an agreement on efforts to reduce acid rain.

In an interview with Canadian-based U.S. reporters, Mulroney said he was “not at all pleased or satisfied” with Reagan’s record on the issue of airborne pollutants environmentalists say are killing thousands of lakes and waterways in Canada and the northeastern United States and destroying huge sections of forests.

According to the Canadian position, Reagan has failed to act on his promise, made during a meeting with Mulroney a year ago, to find a solution to the acid rain problem.

Summit Coming Up

Now, with the two men scheduled for their fourth summit in as many years in Washington next week, Mulroney has given up on his previous conciliatory approach and is openly criticizing Reagan. To underline his dissatisfaction he is making an obvious end run around the White House and appealing to Congress for help.

Mulroney repeatedly declared: “We’re not pleased with the Administration position,” and said pointedly that “Congress is capable of initiating its own legislation to curb acid rain.”

“I hope,” he added, “that that (Reagan) failure will not affect the Congress” developing a pollution control law “that will do honor to themselves and to their commitment to Canada.”

The prime minister said he will meet with leaders of both parties in Congress next week and urge them to take independent action on an approach he said they have agreed to in the past.

“I have to take the leadership of Congress at its word. . . . I have every reason to think that their word will be honored,” he said.

Other Canadian officials said, however, that they expect to see no positive action on the issue during next week’s meeting.

Reagan Stand Cited

Mulroney said that Reagan, with whom he still has regular telephone conversations, sticks to an “essentially technical argument that (scientific) evidence is not sufficiently conclusive to justify massive expenditures to clean up (the U.S.) side of the border.”

Yet, the prime minister said forcefully, “When lakes, forests and streams are dying before your very eyes, you don’t need further research.”

Mulroney repeated previous statements that he regards American action to clean up factory wastes, which some scientists say account for 50% of the air pollution in Canada, as a test of good relations between the two countries.

But he stopped short of threatening retaliatory action on other bilateral matters, saying only that Reagan’s inaction on acid rain is “impinging very strongly on our relationship.”

Aside from hoping that Congress will act on its own and that U.S. presidential candidates will be more environmentally aware than Reagan, the prime minister indicated there is little more he can do.

U.S. Position Change

Over the last four years, Reagan has backed off from a position that acid rain is not a serious problem. He agreed to a study of the problem and has pledged to spend $5 billion to begin private control programs.

Canadian officials say he has not followed through, has not obtained authorization of the funds from Congress and never carried out his pledge to move toward setting a firm timetable for reducing harmful wastes, a step Mulroney has strongly advocated.