Supreme Court bans former "Exxon Valdez" from entering Indian breaker's yards

                                              Exxon Valdez spill , 1989

India's apex Supreme Court has banned the 'Oriental Nicety'- the Exxon Valdez in a previous notorious avatar- from entering the country's ports, saying the ship should have been decontaminated first. The ship was in Indian waters headed for Alang, Gujarat to be scrapped when the Court asked that its voyage be stopped 'midway.' The Exxon Valdez was involved in the second biggest US oil spill in history back in 1989. Authorities in Gujarat, including the pollution control department, have now "withdrawn permission" for the vessel to be anchored at Alang for dismantling.   

The Supreme Court asked the Government to take action after an environmentalist group filed a Public Interest Litigation against the ship being allowed to be broken up in India. Activists have long alleged that ship breakers in India ignore safety, exposing workers and the environment to toxic materials. The Research and Science Foundation (RSF) claimed that the Oriental Nicety had changed names many times to distance it from the 1989 disaster- the Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean.- before been bought by a subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries based in Gujarat for dismantling.. 

The Supreme Court has now issued notices to the Shipping Ministry to inform it about the steps it has taken to cut short the "Oriental Nicety's" voyage. RSF lawyer Sanjay Parikh told reporters that the vessel was a "trespasser as she doesn’t have the sanction to berth” at any breaker's facilities. 

RSF alleges that the Indian government is slack in applying the Basel Convention laws to ship breaking. India is a signatory to that convention, which lays down norms for the minimisation of generation of hazardous wastes, and calls that toxic wastes be disposed “as close to the source of generation as possible”. The Supreme Court had said in 2007 that the authorities should ensure that a vessel arriving for dismantling be free of any hazardous material, including radioactive material, and that the pollution control boards should confirm she is "properly decontaminated". Mercury, arsenic, asbestos and residual oil are common contaminants found aboard ships.

RCF's Parikh claims that the Court's 2007 directive has been largely ignored, including in this case. “Though it has not yet been allowed to berth in any of the ports, the ship, which is alleged to be contaminated, has entered Indian waters without taking proper steps for decontamination in the port of export,” he said.

The Gujarat company that hoped to dismantle the former Exxon Valdez will appeal the Supreme Court ruling. "We will abide with the Supreme Court order. We are studying the order, and will appeal," said Harshadbhai Padia, a partner in the company.

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Radioactive ship to be broken up at Alang?

“An international fugitive vessel”: IPOS


Ahmedabad, Oct. 16: As contradictory statements come out from within the Gujarat Government and even as Jairam Ramesh, Union Environment Minister, orders an enquiry into the affair, activists are enraged that a toxic US ship may be broken up at Alang. They claim that the vessel is contaminated with radioactive substances, poses a danger to the environment and worker health and want Washington to recall the vessel “in the same way that the French had recalled Le Clemenceau.”


Platinum II, a cruise ship reportedly bought by a Gujarat merchant, is today anchored waiting for clearance to beach at Alang, one of the largest shipbreaking locations in the world. Meanwhile, the Government of India has announced that a three member team will go to Alang early next week to investigate. The GOI is also trying to confirm ownership of the vessel.


Gopal Krishna of the watchdog NGO, Indian Platform on Shipbreaking (IPOS) calls the Platinum II an “international fugitive vessel. This 682 foot ocean liner is loaded with an estimated 210 tonnes of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and an estimated 250 tonnes of asbestos as part of its construction, which is lethal to the health of the workers as well to the environment,” he said. IPOS is a coalition of environment, health, labour and human rights organisations. It alleges that the toxic PCB is present in the insulated wiring of the 18,503 tonne vessel, which has nine decks and a passenger capacity of more than a thousand. PCBs are known across the world for their cancer causing affects.


IPOS also accused the Gujarat Maritime Board and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board of having given clearances to the ship without proper inspection. They are demanding that the ship be sent back to the US for having broken international treaties like the Basel Convention, which regulates movement of hazardous substances between States and allows India to permit dismantling only if, as in this case, there is a bilateral deal between the US and India. No such deal exists.


Adding to the confusion, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board seems to have first submitted a report saying that there was nothing hazardous aboard “except asbestos and paint, both of which can be removed under Supreme Court guidelines”. S.K. Nanda, the State’s principal secretary, forests and environment, said that clearance had been given. “We have given the clearance as we have found nothing hazardous on Platinum II, which should be allowed to be dismantled at the Alang shipbreaking yard,” he had said. Later, however, a GPCB member said that clearances had not yet been given and that reports had been sent to “higher ups” to seek their opinion. Both the GPCB and the Maritime Board seem to be silent on the toxic PCB issue.


IPOS also alleges that the earlier owners of the Platinum II, Global Marketing Systems of the US, had been heavily fined by the US Environmental Protection Agency for attempting to export the ship without decontaminating it. They say that violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) promoted the fines: PCB export is banned under the TSCA.


Even as another incident in a series of controversial events at Alang plays out, a new twist emerges in this tale. Environmental groups have warned the media that attempts are being made by interested parties to get clearances to beach the toxic ship on ‘humanitarian grounds’ even now.
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