Queen Charlotte Islands News

State and federal trustees were awarded $16.9m for seven projects to address harm from mysterious oil leaks that killed more than 50,000 California seabirds since 1990. The projects will help species impacted by oil that leaked from the S.S. Jacob Luckenbach. The freighter sank in 1953 about 17 miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge, but was not identified as the source of the oil until 2002 after decades of leaking oil, especially during winter storms, causing massive injury to wildlife. “This funding will go a long way to restore California’s seabird populations that were devastated by oil released from the Luckenbach,” said Stephen Edinger, administrator for the California Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response.

An environmental group has criticized a move by British Columbia to study the idea of having Ottawa lift a 28-year-old ban on offshore drilling along Canada's pristine Pacific coast. An area near the Queen Charlotte Islands is believed to hold one of Canada's largest natural gas deposits, and business leaders in coastal region have said a drilling ban should be lifted to help the area's beleaguered economy. A report for the provincial government said there was enough public interest in the issue - especially in the effected area - that its future warranted examination. Northern Development Commissioner John Backhouse, who had requested the study into public interest in the project, said he hoped to have review process under way by fall.

The Transportation Safety Board hopes to have its final report on the sinking of the B.C. Ferries vessel Queen of the North ready by September, the National Union of Public and General Employees reported. Officials with the board are apparently anxious to establish a faster standard for issuing major reports by getting this one out within six months rather than waiting a year or longer to complete its work, as has often happened in the past. The March 22 incident claimed two lives when the ferry sank after ramming rocks at Gill Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ninety-nine passengers, including 42 crew members, escaped, many aided by residents in the nearby coastal community of Hartley Bay. The writing of the report is scheduled to start this week.

Two people are now feared dead after an ocean-going ferry sank when it smashed onto a rocky island on Canada's Pacific coast on March 22. Police have begun a missing persons investigation for the couple, whom witnesses reported seeing on shore with the 99 others rescued from the ferry Queen of the North, but who have not been heard from since. According to Reuters, BC Ferries now fears those witness reports were wrong and that the couple from the town of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, went down with the ship. The Queen of the North is believed to have gone off course and struck Gil Island shortly after midnight local time, about 75 miles south of Prince Rupert, on a trip down the Inside Passage on the northwest coast of British Columbia.