NEW
DELHI: The Union environment and forests ministry has stepped into the
controversy over beaching rights and breaking of the ship, Exxon Valdez
(rechristened as Oriental Nicety), at India's biggest ship-breaking yard at
Alang by leaving the decision to the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).
Responding
to environment activist Gopal Krishna's application in the Supreme Court for
decontamination of the vessel before permission to beach at Alang, the ministry
in its affidavit said: "The local authority concerned, GMB, may take a
decision for anchoring and subsequent beaching and breaking of the ship in
strict compliance of the apex court's September 6, 2009, directions."
The
ship is standing outside India's maritime boundary waiting for permission to
beach at Alang for breaking. Exxon Valdez had been on the red radar of
environmentalists since March 24, 1989, when it ran aground on Bligh Reef in
Prince William Sound, Alaska. The vessel spilled approximately 10.9 million
gallons of its 53 million gallon cargo of Prudhoe Bay crude oil, making it the
largest oil spill in US waters.
ExxonMobil
Company took immediate responsibility for the spill, cleaned it up, and
voluntarily compensated those who claimed direct damages. ExxonMobil paid $300
million immediately and voluntarily to more than 11,000 Alaskans and businesses
affected by the Valdez spill. In addition, it also paid $2.2 billion on the
cleanup of Prince William Sound, staying with the cleanup from 1989 till its
completion in 1992. ExxonMobil also had paid $1 billion in settlements with the
state and federal governments.
Krishna
had requested the Supreme Court to direct the Union government to ensure that
no end-of-life ship be allowed into the country's coast without prior
decontamination in the country of its origin.
He
had also sought an inquiry into the manner in which more than 5,000 dead ships
were brought into Indian waters for breaking allegedly without following the
norms laid down by the Supreme Court.
The
ship's owner, Best Oasis Ltd; had replied to Krishna's application through
counsel Gaurav Goel, and also told the apex court that the Gujarat Pollution
Control Board (GPCB) and the GMB were permitting the ship to beach without even
verifying whether there was any hazardous waste on the vessel.
The owners
said the notice issued by the SC on Krishna's application was being understood
by the authorities as an order restraining the ship from entering the Indian
territorial waters.
"Exxon
Valdez does not have any hazardous material," the owner declared and
promised to abide by the apex court's 2009 directions in both letter and
spirit. "The only allegation made by Gopal Krishna is to the effect that
at one point of time the ship was an oil carrying vessel and due to an accident
it polluted the sea. The ship was repaired after the accident, and had been in
use for all these years as an ore-carrying vessel," they said.
Source:
Times of India. 24 June 2012
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