Salton Sea

* In his frightening essay, “Dying by the Sea” (Sept. 4), Robert A. Jones describes the unchecked devastation of fish and bird life, as the Salton Sea, a major ecological resource of our region, has been progressively poisoned by detergent and toxic waste contamination as well as by salty runoffs from Imperial Valley farms. He estimates the cost of reclaiming the sea to be upward of $100 million and concludes by asking with evident pessimism, “Where does anyone get $100 million to fix the sea? No one knows.”

No one knows? Really? In a society that can easily find $100 million to build an athletic stadium? In a society that can casually cough up $80 million to give one basketball player a multiyear contract? In a land where a 20-year-old golfer who has yet to win a single professional tournament has already been contracted for $60 million by advertising agencies? Where certain television and movie personalities earn enough in five years to save two Salton Seas?

Are we really better than the fallen Roman Empire? Nero, it is said, fiddled while Rome burned. We’re all going to the ballgame or watching television while our life-support system is being destroyed. “Where does anyone get $100 million to fix the sea?” Shame on us for the need to ask such a question!

LEON SCHWARTZ

Altadena