The Tanker Formerly Known as "Exxon Valdez"

From the where are they now department: A super tanker once named the Exxon Valdez, now incongruously labeled the Oriental Nicety will be scrapped in India's largest scrapyard. The Supreme Court of India ruled Monday that the 26 year old ship run aground by her incapacitated captain can be broken down in Alang on India's western coast. Activists who attempted to block the scrapping contend the ship contains asbestos and heavy metals. The Gujurat Pollution Control Board denied the ship entry into the Alang scrapyard, but the Court said Gujurat maritime authorities had certified the ship contained no hazardous substances. India has one of the world's largest maritime salvage industries. The ill-fated ship's name changed repeatedly to hide its infamous past. It was converted to an ore carrier a decade ago, but suffered more damage from a collision in the South China Sea in 2010. When named Exxon Valdez the vessel broke open after running aground in Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil. That spill has since been surpassed in size by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Exxon was assessed punative damages for the spill of $5 billion, but that was reduced by a business friendly Supreme Courtto only $500,000 million. The original award was larger than the total of all punitive damage awards affirmed by all federal appellate courts in US history. The herring fishery still has not recovered from the toxic pollution of Prince William Sound over twenty years ago {25.03.12, "Exxon Valdez Twenty Years Later"}