The potential impact of an oil spill on our coast was an issue in the last election and may also have been a factor in the decision to solve an environmental threat that’s been hanging over the B.C. coast for almost 70 years now.
A U.S. military ship, the MG Zalinski, struck a reef and sank south of Prince Rupert in the fall of 1946.
The Coast Guard has been patching the deteriorating hull of the U.S. transportation ship Zalinski for years. The ship’s fuel tanks still contain up to 600 tonnes of bunker fuel.
Recently, divers have noticed beads of fuel leaking from the hull.
The Canadian Coast Guard has now launched an operation to deal with the problem, at a cost of almost $50 million.
A barge loaded with the latest oil recovery gear is leaving Vancouver drydock, heading north to facilitate what might become the biggest under water oil recovery operation ever undertaken in Canada.
Mammoet Salvage out of the Netherlands has been hired to carry out the clean up operation.
The Zalinski is not far from the Queen of the North which also still has it fuel on board.
One day, that ferry may need the same critical attention. The coast guard says the timing of its operation is not connected to the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, as planning started ten years ago.
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