Big Miracle Page #2

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they eat bowhead.

I know, but they haven't

filled their quota this year.

So, on Sunday night the whaling

captains are meeting to get their permit.

Not if I can help it.

And a big thank you

to Governor Haskell.

Governor Haskell.

Miss Kramer,

nice to see you again.

How's everything

in nature?

Fine. Listen, I don't

mean to disrupt you...

I don't think you know any other way.

Governor, three gray whales are

trapped off the coast of Barrow

and we were wondering

if you could help us.

What kind of help?

Mobilize the National

Guard up to Barrow

with a ship that can

break through the ice.

Are you serious?

You want me to mobilize the

National Guard to save a few whales?

Excuse me.

Because whales

can't vote, right?

And they can't give

big campaign contributions,

so, who cares about a bunch

of stupid whales, right?

Please.

In Alaska,

there are no simple rescues.

If I get

the National Guard involved,

I'm putting

their lives at risk,

and when a whale dies,

Miss Kramer,

you don't have to tell

its wife and children.

NBC Studios, New York

All right, people,

let's go over this one more time.

We do the Bush-Dukakis debates,

followed by voter reaction.

Do the budget deficit piece,

the S&L indictments and what?

The Anti-Drug bill, right?

That leaves us a minute

and 40 seconds to fill.

Well, did anything new

come in on the feeds?

Yeah, you got

Chrysler laying off 5,000.

A train off the tracks

in India, 60 dead.

And a bunch of whales stuck

in the ice in the North Pole.

Whales.

Brokaw's a sucker

for those stories.

Wait, wait, wait, but

show me how you got that.

It's easy.

If 26 is less or

equal to three-x plus one,

I just use the additive...

Adam, listening?

Yep.

... it also means

hot dogs.

Specifically,

Deener's Weiners.

A MacArthur Park institution

for over 50 years.

You like her.

What? No, I don't.

Well, I like her.

She's hot.

Okay, don't you

have to go?

No.

Yes, I think you do.

I think you're supposed to

be at a dance thing.

It's so boring.

It's also tradition

and your grandfather's going

to kill me if you miss it, so...

So? It's not like I'm gonna

be here when I grow up.

I don't want

to be here.

I want to be out there,

like you.

Can you believe that she was

in a tiny little news station

in Lawrence, Kansas,

like, four years ago?

Yeah, you like her.

Holy crap!

Whoa! What did I say about

the language? Holy crap!

In Northern Alaska,

winter comes very early,

and for three

California gray whales,

it may have come

too early this year.

Adam Carlson reports from the most

northern point of the United States.

I'm standing out on

this frozen landscape

where we recently discovered a

tragedy unfolding here in Barrow.

Ice is freezing

the Beaufort Sea,

more quickly than usual

for this time of year.

And three gray whales,

two adults and their baby,

are now trapped within a wall

of ice, six inches thick.

According to Pat Lafayette

of Alaska Wildlife Management,

these gray whales were to have already

begun their annual migration south.

It's a 5,000-mile journey that takes

them down the coast of North America

to a lagoon in Baja, Mexico,

where they breed.

These three whales

were certainly not expecting

to be imprisoned

in an Arctic dungeon.

A gray whale's head, unlike

the stout bowhead whale,

is too soft to

break through the ice

and it's beginning

to take its toll.

Cuts and bruises are now visible

each time the whales surface.

But for these three,

there is no choice.

It's either continue fighting to

keep the hole open, or drown.

Both experts here give the

whales a slim chance of survival.

Good morning, Greenpeace.

- Dave, those whales are dead if I don't

get some help. Okay? -

Greenpeace Headquarters,

Anchorage

There's the quote for

your paper. I gotta go.

Hello.

I know how you

can free those whales.

Who is this?

I'm a friend of the whales.

In Prudhoe Bay,

there's a giant hover barge

that belongs

to Alaska Northern Oil.

It was built to

break through the ice,

and trust me,

it's exactly what you need.

You just have to get the National

Guard to supply a helicopter

to tow it

from Prudhoe to Barrow.

How do you know

all of this?

I have very good connections.

Where the hell are we?

Brokaw and

his damn whales!

"All raw whale

and seal meat

"must be stored in leak-proof

packages for shipment."

You know, I think they got a

sign like that in Disneyland.

Did you find

the bathroom?

Yeah. Two Porta-Johns.

One with a broken door.

One with a frozen lid.

Oh, God!

Boulder, Colorado

She called you?

Interesting.

I'll tell you

something, Ruth.

That woman has got

a hell of a big pair

thinking that

she can ask me for help

after the way she

embarrassed me like that.

I mean, she's nuts if she thinks

I'm going to let some hippies

use my barge to

save a bunch of whales!

Thank you.

Is Barrow near that Arctic wildlife

reserve you're always going on about?

That place

you want to drill so bad?

That's a whole other fight.

She's got her tree-hugger buddies in

Washington killing me on that one, too.

You know, I spent a fortune and I still

can't get the votes I need to drill.

Can you imagine what those people

would think if you saved those whales?

Yeah, right.

If we started

hugging trees, too.

I'll tell you

what it would do.

It would make it a whole lot harder to

make me look like the bad guy all the time.

Honey, how much could it cost

to move one silly little barge?

Well, I'll tell you. Twenty

or thirty grand, probably.

Excuse me, I'll be right back. Sorry.

Yeah, Bobby,

I just changed my mind.

Tell the witch

she can use my barge.

Right. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Listen,

have the girls put out a press release

saying that we're even going to

spring for the gas for the helicopters.

All right?

You did that story on

Hurricane Gilbert last month.

Yeah.

Adam and I watched

every second of that.

Really?

Yeah, we got all the

feeds at the TV station.

Hey, how did they get

that killer facility

all the way out to

a place like this?

Welcome to Barrow.

You have a $400-million high

school next to a $400 house.

Did you get

the tapes?

Oh, no.

I don't know

how you do it.

I'm not from here.

I'm down in Anchorage.

I would love to get to

the lower 48, though.

It involves El Nio,

if you can believe that.

That's amazing.

With the whale story

heating up,

maybe you guys could take

a look at my reel, or...

I don't think he's going to recommend

anybody who can steal his job.

What the hell?

Yeah, those things are like

twigs out in this temperature.

I keep some

extras in the trunk.

I'll get them.

Ow!

Ow.

Could you get me

some coffee?

Maybe some hot coffee.

Time and hope appear

to be running out...

It's on! It's on!

... for three California gray

whales that have been trapped

for more than a week in the

thickening ice of the Arctic Ocean.

Hey, what's happening?

They are pathetic creatures.

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