Tag: Exxon Valdez

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Row-hit US ship to anchor today

The MV Oriental N will anchor off the Alang Ship Recycling Yard for inspection The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is allowing the MV Oriental N, formerly Exxon Valdez, to anchor off the Alang Ship Recycling Yard for inspection after the Customs on Thursday issued a "no objection" to its anchoring and subsequent inspection by a team of government officials.The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) had given its nod on Wednesday, and the vessel is expected to anchor off Alang on Friday evening.Separately, Delhi-based environmental activist Gopal Krishna, the petitioner in the ongoing case concerning the vessel's entry into India for dismantling, wrote on Thursday evening to the CBI director and six Union ministers alleging the GMB's nod is "in violation of Supreme Court orders" and that "its movement must be halted to demonstrate that Indian law enforcement agencies are not subservient to US's ship disposal policy".Captain S Chadha, GMB's port officer at Alang yard, said, "The Customs has given its no-objection certificate for inspection of the MV Oriental N. GPCB did so yesterday. The vessel is expected to arrive by tomorrow evening. It will anchor in sheltered water about three to four nautical miles from the shore, and an inspection ...

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Decide on Exxon Valdez’s Alang break-up in 15 days

Supreme Court gave 15 days more to decide for cargo ship Exxon Valdez The Supreme Court on Monday gave 15 days to Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to decide whether cargo ship Exxon Valdez, rechristened Oriental Nicety, be allowed to undertake its final journey to India's biggest ship-breaking yard at Alang.The ship, once responsible for the worst oil spills in US history when it ran aground off Alaska coast in 1989, has been anchored in international waters in Arabian Sea since the first week of May and is awaiting permission from the authorities to beach at Alang for dismantling.On May 3, the SC had sought responses from the Union ministry for environment and forests on an application filed by environment activist Gopal Krishna, who had requested the court to turn the ship away alleging that it had not followed the Basel Convention mandating decontamination of a vessel at the country of origin before being sent for breaking in another nation.A bench of Justices H L Gokhale and Ranjana P Desai brushed aside the ship owner's argument that anchoring in international water was costing him dear daily, and said the decision to beach at Alang had ...

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Exxon Valdez remains controversial near its end in India

Indian environmentalists have filed a petition to block the Exxon Valdez from entering Alang, India For the ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, even sailing quietly into the sunset is proving difficult.Now called the Oriental Nicety, it's floating off India in a kind of high-seas limbo as a court decides whether the vessel that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's unspoiled Prince William Sound in 1989 can be hacked apart in this forlorn graveyard for once-mighty ships.Local environmentalists have petitioned the High Court here in the western state of Gujarat to block its entry pending an onboard inspection for toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and asbestos.Environmentalists acknowledge it's probably no more toxic than so many other ships recycled at Alang, a city whose coastline was once edged with forest and is now lined with about 175 ramshackle yards pulling vessels apart. But they say the standoff focuses attention on India's lax environmental, labor and safety standards governing the billion-dollar ship-breaking industry."The ex-Exxon Valdez is a test case for the robustness of India's regulatory framework," activist Gopal Krishna of ToxicsWatch Alliance wrote in a court filing.In an industry that benefits from cheap labor, "they want to drop ...

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India bars Alaska oil spill tanker Exxon Valdez

The ship, now known as the Oriental Nicety, would not be allowed in until it had been decontaminated India's Supreme Court has barred the giant tanker Exxon Valdez, which was involved in one of the world's worst oil spills, from entering the country.The ship, now known as the "Oriental Nicety", entered Indian waters last week, headed for the shipbreaking yards in the western state of Gujarat.The court said it would not be allowed in until it had been decontaminated.The Exxon Valdez caused devastation when it ran aground in Alaska in 1989, spilling 11m gallons of crude oil.US officials say about 1,300 miles (2,080km) of ecologically sensitive coastline in Prince William Sound were contaminated in the disaster. Tens of thousands of seabirds, otters and seals were killed.The Exxon Valdez was bought recently by the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of an Indian shipbreaking firm and was to be dismantled at Alang, the hub of India's shipbreaking industry."We will abide with the Supreme Court order. We are studying the order, and will appeal," said Harshadbhai Padia, a partner in the company, Associated Press reports.Source: BBC News

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