B.C. First Nation tells Ottawa never mind improved oil spill safeguards, clean up oil from 1946 shipwreck

When it comes to Ottawa's plans to enhance oil spill surveillance and cleanup on the West Coast, count Arnold Clifton as skeptical.

The Conservative government announced a list of measures Monday, including improved inspection of oil-handling facilities, better spill response and heightened aerial surveillance.

The initiatives are aimed at easing concerns among B.C. residents who worry about a major oil spill on the rugged coastline if the Northern Gateway bitumen pipeline from Alberta gets the go-ahead and supertankers start plying local waters.

But Clifton, chief counsellor of the Gitga'at First Nation at Hartley Bay, on the northern coast, says the expanded aerial spill patrols will spot oil right away — from a seven-decade-old wreck that's never been dealt with.

[ Related: Harper government announces new rules on oil tanker safety ]

The USAT Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski was a military transport ship en route to Alaska from Seattle when it ran onto some rocks and sank in Grenville Channel, near Hartley Bay, in 1946. It was carrying bombs and more than 700 tonnes of bunker C fuel oil.

In 2003, oil began leaking up from corroded tanks on the sunken ship, which is not far from where B.C. Ferries' Queen of the North sank in 2006.

Ottawa has monitored the Zalinski but the danger of triggering the bombs still aboard the wreck, which lies along the route tankers would travel if Gateway goes ahead, has stalled efforts to do anything more than patch the leaks.

In news release, Clifton said the Gitga'at are still experiencing the effects of the Zalinski's pollution and questioned how Ottawa would handle a major tanker accident if it can't recover the oil from the 1940s-era wreck.

"The first place they can fly over is our territory, where the Zalinski is still leaking oil," he said. "We counted three oil slicks yesterday, despite claims by the government that they've patched the wreckage.

"Regardless of these new regulations, an accident is still inevitable and the consequences of an oil spill would be a complete disaster for the Gitga'at First Nation - destroying our marine-based way of life, on which our culture is based."

Clifton said the Conservatives seem intent on "ramming this project through, despite the very serious concerns of First Nations, whose very culture and way of life is threatened by oil tankers, no matter how heavily regulated they are."

Northern Gateway's critics concurred.

[ Related: Enbridge under fire for animation erasing islands in Northern Gateway pipeline tanker route ]

“This is just a signal the government is going to push the pipeline through,” said Ben West of ForestEthics Advocacy, told the Vancouver Sun. “They’re just about willing to do absolutely anything to convince the public these projects should go ahead no matter what the opposition.”

New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen, whose northern B.C. riding includes a stretch of the north coast, called the announcement "an exercise in greenwashing," and an attempt to distract from the serious threat Northern Gateway poses to B.C., the Sun said.

Cullen noted a University of British Columbia study estimated the potential costs of a major spill at $9.6 billion.