Americas News
Sunken US Army Vessel "Leaking bunker Fuel"
A sunken US Army Vessel, the USAT Brigadier General M. G. Zalinski which sank off the coast of British Columbia, Canada in 1946 with a reported 700 tonnes of bunker fuel on board, is said to be responsible for an oil spill between two and five miles long and 200 feet wide.
The spill was discovered by a commercial pilot yesterday and reported to both the Canadian Coast Guard and the Gitga’at Nation, who say they depend on the ocean for 40% of their traditional diet.
With the Coast Guard en route, the Gitga’at say they are sending their own Guardians to take samples of the spill and have chartered a plane to take aerial photos as they focus efforts on understanding the size of the spill, and what clean-up is required.
“If this spill is as big as the pilots are reporting, then we’re looking at serious environmental impacts, including threats to our traditional shellfish harvesting areas,” says Arnold Clifton, Chief Councillor of the Gitga’at Nation.
"We need an immediate and full clean-up response from the federal government ASAP."
The Chief Councillor also said that the incident "definitely raises questions about the federal government’s ability to guard against oil spills and to honour its clean-up obligations."
Oil was first spotted leaking from the wreck in 2003, and the Canadian Government has been planning to clean up the wreck, along with that of BC Ferries' 700 passenger RORO Queen of the North, since it sank in the same area in 2006.
It too is reported to be leaking fuel.
Alberta Oil
The spill is said to be close to the proposed tanker route of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project, which will see Alberta oil pumped to a new marine terminal in Kitimat on the British Columbia coast.
This latest incident has given the Gitga’at little assurance that increased tanker traffic in the area is a good idea, with the Gitga’at Nation's Chief saying that as a result of the government's handling of the area's wrecks, plus the latest spill, "Our nation has serious concerns about any proposal to have tankers travel through our coastal waters, including the Enbridge proposal."
The news comes in the same week the Gitga’at Nation's West Coast neighbours in Vancouver also took a swipe at Albertan oil aspirations.
As reported yesterday by Ship & Bunker, Mayor Gregor Robertson called for ship owners to have liability insurance covering all oil spill clean up costs plus payouts for compensation.
The move was widely seen as opposition to a planned expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline which takes Alberta oil into BC's lower mainland and, if it goes ahead, will increase tanker traffic around Vancouver's coastline.
