Crews removing oil from leaky WW II vessel shipwrecked in B.C.

[GoneFishin]

Crews removing oil from leaky WW II vessel shipwrecked in B.C.

In 1946, the U.S. cargo ship USAT Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski struck a rock near Pitt Island and sank.

Crews are heading off the coast of northern B.C. to prevent a 78-year-old shipwreck from leaking oil into the surrounding waters, the Canadian Coast Guard says.

The 77-metre U.S. cargo ship USAT Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski met its unfortunate end in 1946 when it struck a rock near Pitt Island, while transporting army supplies and about 700,000 litres of heavy fuel oil from Seattle, Wash. to Whittier, Alaska.

The ship sank in 20 minutes, coming to rest on a rock ledge around 35 metres under the surface of the Grenville Channel, about 100 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, B.C.

In the 78 years since, the ship has deteriorated and fuel tanks aboard have collapsed — putting oil at risk of leaking into the Pacific Ocean. According to the coast guard, a spill could cause long-term damage to the marine environment and areas of significant cultural value.
Read more > https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mg-zalinski-oil-removal-1.7355271

 

[jimintoronto]

I think that the US Government SHOULD have acted on this situation years ago. Obviously there is no doubt about who owned the ship back when it sank. Why is the Canadian tax payer going to pay for a remediation, at this late date, 78 years after a US Government ship sank ?

This reminds me of the disgraceful mess that was left behind at the Distant Early Warning radar sites in northern Canada, when the US military moved out and left behind tons of cancer causing PCB's, and other piles of scrap materials. It took decades of complaints by the Canadian Government, before Washington finally acted to clean up their mess in the Canadian Arctic. JIM.