Saturday, March 24, 2012

Exxon Valdez sold for scrap metal

The ship once known as the Exxon Valdez, whose 1989 grounding and oil spill fouled a 400-mile-long stretch of Alaska coastline,  has been sold for scrap and will be cut up in Indian. The shipping publication Tradewinds reported on the less-than-stellar end to a ship that did billions of dollars worth of damage, particularly to the fisheries of Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez triggered one of America’s great environmental disasters, and serves to this day as a reminder that Big Oil is capable of big-scale mishaps. On March 24, 1989 — Good Friday — the Exxon Valdez veered off course after departing for the oil port of Valdez and slammed into Bligh Reef.  Its captain, Joe Hazelwood, had been drinking at a Valdez bar before departure. The 213,300 dead-weight ton ship fetched a price of $16 million to be cut up for scrap...more

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