Former Exxon Valdez Sold for Scrap

Exxon Valdez (photo from US Coast Guard)

The Exxon Valdez, best known for shedding 11 million gallons of oil into an environmentally vital Alaskan sound, has reached the end of its seaborne role. According to a Bloomberg News story picked up in the LA Times, the infamous ship was sold for $16 million to an outfit called Global Marketing Systems Inc. No, it's not a telemarketing operation: the firm, according to the article, is "the world's biggest cash buyer of ships for demolition."

The years were harsh to the Exxon Valdez. The vessel ultimately had four other names and an equal number of owners since the 1989 Alaskan ecological disaster. The ship's original name became synonymous with apocalyptic catastrophes. Improved ship designs terminated its oil carrying usefulness. Eventually, it transported iron ore more or less in anonymity.

The Exxon Valdez incident, however, has not retreated into history's shadows. With disturbingly increasing frequency, some sort of industrial or military calamity diminishes the planet's environment. Some of the disasters dwarf the Exxon Valdez's deleterious impact: the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the ruinous destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and the impact of armed conflict on the Persian Gulf during the First Gulf War come to mind. While it's tempting to let the memory of the Exxon Valdez sleep, it's important to awaken its story and tell its cautionary tale to a new generation.