Exxon Valdez Sold For Scrap Decades Later For $16 Million

In this June 23, 1989 photo, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker is towed out of Prince William Sound in Alaska by a tug boat and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. The Exxon Valdez was sold for $16 million.

More than 20 years later, a ship best known for causing an environmental catastrophe is finally being put to rest.

The Exxon Valdez, which spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989, is being bought for $16 million by Global Systems Marketing Inc., a firm that purchases ships for demolition, Bloomberg reports. The vessel, now known as the Oriental Nicety, has changed names and owners four times since the infamous disaster.

At the time, the Exxon Valdez spill was the largest in U.S. history and resulted in Exxon having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid criminal prosecution, as well as to resolve civil claims made by federal and state governments, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Office. In addition, the company paid nearly $4 billion in cleanup costs.

Still, Exxon avoided a larger punishment. In 1994, an Anchorage jury awarded victims of the spill $5 billion, but after a 15-year legal battle the case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices awarded the victims just $507 million, according to CBS.

The long and protracted legal battle waged by victims may have helped shaped the decision by fishermen affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 -- now the largest in U.S. history -- to settle quickly with BP, according to the Christian Science Monitor. A group of fishermen agreed earlier this month to drop litigation against BP in exchange for a $7.8 billion payout.

The Exxon Valdez spill cost tens of thousands of people who depended on fishing for a living a total of $300 million, according to the Center for American Progress. In addition, tourism in southwest Alaska plunged 35 percent in the year immediately following the spill.

But Exxon still managed to take home billions of dollars in the spill’s aftermath and today is currently in a back-and-forth battle with Apple for the title of most valuable company in the world.

Comments

[Teri Knauer-Schafer]

10:24 AM on 04/19/2012

Some is not suppose to be a food chain though. Helpers of this world are too cool for the plate

[Teri Knauer-Schafer]

10:22 AM on 04/19/2012

The oil will harden in about 3 years. Creation will prevail. I mentioned that we start large inland fishing tanks both salt water and fresh for our tables. Has anyone ever seen Bass Pro Shops? inside wildlife can produce and survive all the worlds issues of ignorance. Most of life lives and dies in a graceful fashion called a food chain

[hfchristensen]

11:11 PM on 03/22/2012

I worked at GD-NASSCO and had the opportunity to walk through the gash in the hull, looking 70 Ft up in to the top of the tanks, and wondering (in awe) how it made it back to its builder.

[shyguy151]

06:18 PM on 03/21/2012

Single Hull Tankers are a dying breed. Although in this case, I am not sure even a double hull ship would not have sustained massive damage. The captain was drunk at the time of the collision. I guess there is going to be no Exxon Valdez in Waterworld.

[mzymr]

04:44 PM on 03/21/2012

On oil prices. The government should prohibit all exportation of oil till our needs are met in this country. The oil companies drill on government land, then rather than sell it here at a reasonable price. They export it because they can make more money. Before drilling in alska was approved. The oil people assured it was to be used for domestic consumption. So what's happened . All of that oil is shipped to Japan and other countries for scandalous profits. All that oil is taken from government (our ) land. And on top of that the oil companies get tax breaks,investment tax credits and sundry other tax breaks. Resulting billions in profits and little in taxes.It is no surprise we are in the financial condition we are in.Close the tax loopholes and institute a 20% VAT tax on all imported goods from 3 rd world countries like the Europeans do.

[Daniel Saleh]

03:18 PM on 03/21/2012

What surprised me most about this was that the Valdez was just sold now. I thought the ship would have been scrapped after they pulled it off the rocks. Why on earth would anyone want to work on that ship afterwards?

[shyguy151]

06:20 PM on 03/21/2012

It has been through other owners, and they are costly to build. Unlike the Costa Cponcordia it was easy to refloat and repair.

[salamanca1]

01:25 PM on 03/21/2012

Giant single-hull tankers are much less expensive to build than double-hull ships, and much more expensive to everyone when they hit a rock.

[DANIELISTICALL]

01:19 PM on 03/21/2012

Drill, Baby, Drill Fails: Obama Presides Over Record Growth in Oil Rigs, Still Gets Blamed by GOP for High Oil Prices
By Joe Romm on Aug 31, 2011 There is a huge surge in U.S. oil drilling, up nearly 60% in the past year and the highest total since at least 1987, when oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. began keeping track,” notes the WSJ.

[Papatrainman]

01:08 PM on 03/21/2012

I don't buy Exxon or BP gas. I have learned to vote with my pocket book though I'm sure neither are losing any sleep at all because of it lol!

Papa
www.papatrains.com

[cheaptrick00]

01:04 PM on 03/21/2012

only Billions of dollars in the aftermath??? How about 100's of BILLIONS quarterly....and chck this out.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAffMSWSzY

[ibeyour1]

12:58 PM on 03/21/2012

More proof of who's pocket the U.S. Supreme Court is in. Corporations are people, a justice and falsify financial disclosures totally forgetting his wife works for the GOP, etc, etc. I just glad the US is the only country that doesn't have corruption in it's midst.

[nypapajoe]

12:54 PM on 03/21/2012

I bet Exxon made money on the deal!

[Sean Whelan]

03:21 AM on 03/27/2012

THey haven't owned the ship for some time now.

[Tucan733]

12:31 PM on 03/21/2012

So how much did the ship originally cost???? Where is that Global Systems scrapyard located? How many salvage jobs is this project going to save? Is the government going to subsidize anything? Are they going to recycle steel and sell it to GM? Is China involved?

[Sean Whelan]

03:22 AM on 03/27/2012

Most scrapping takes place overseas because of environmental standards. Turkey is a popular place. Vessels can be towed from as far away as the Great Lakes to Turkey. The ship is no longer registered American, and thus the US is not involved at all.

[Tony Moschetti]

11:48 AM on 03/21/2012

"The Exxon Valdez spill cost tens of thousands of people who depended on fishing for a living a total of $300 million," which pales in comparison what the "notorious" Barack Obams has cost hard working Americans who USED to work in the oil industry. Obama, who, insanely, believes oil to be the energy source of the "past," believes that PLUG IN hybrids, windmills, and solar panels are out future, which, obviously, means we HAVE NO FUTURE!

[DANIELISTICALL]

11:54 AM on 03/21/2012

FALSE,,,,$300 million????? they just paid out $7.8 BILLION SO tell us all about those jobs in the oilo feild Obama has cost,,,,,HOW MANY AND WHEN,,,enquiring minds want to know,,,can you? or is this some type of FOX NEWS GARBAGE,,,,,TELL US ALL ABOUT IT

[Tony Moschetti]

10:52 AM on 03/25/2012

Fox News "garbage?" You must be a big fan of the Fascists at Media Matters: In their own words: "Simply put, the Progressiv­e movement is in need of an ENEMY. Bush is gone, and we really don't have John McCain to kick around anymore. Filling the lack of leadership on the right, Fox News has emerged as the central ENEMY, and antagonist of the Obama admin­istration, our congressio­nal majorities­, and the Progressiv­e movement as a whole."

"We should hire a team of trackers to stake out private and public events with Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, and prominent contributo­rs, along with senior network and corporate staffs!"

Ask all of those who worked in, or depended on the oil workers in the Gulf where he shut down ALL, not just deep water drilling, on federal lands where drilling is banned, off our shores, the Contintental shelf, and the Kystone pipeline.

And don't even try to go to his photo op trip to Oklahoma to"fast track" something already in the works, and not under his control. Like all liberals the man has no character, and is a congential LIAR.

After spending his first 3.5 years trying to destroy the oil industry, not that it is becoming a political, the only thing he cares about, problem he's trying to convince us he's T. Boone Pickens!

[icebull]

12:19 PM on 03/21/2012

Spoken like a clueless fool. If we spent properly to buld the in frustructure for wind and solar energy we wouldnt be dependent on radical country's for oil. Of course, you could care less for whats actually good for the entire country and are only worried about the 5 people who lost a job because of a solar plant. Get a clue before you come on here crying about nothing.

[DANIELISTICALL]

12:40 PM on 03/21/2012

FANNED from NEW ORLEANS

[ibeyour1]

12:47 PM on 03/21/2012

I just heard on the news this morning that we (the US) is putting tariffs on China solar panels. Seems counter productive to me. Not going help make solar affordable

[DANIELISTICALL]

11:32 AM on 03/21/2012

Today, the United States uses 20.7 million barrels of oil per day. Its
net imports number about 12.4 million barrels, or 60%.
Wind water and the sun have been powering the world since the beginning of time,,oil has been around a little over a hundred years and just a passing FAD Right now the United states is the only industrial nation that is NOT building a hydro electrical dam for power,, China, Canada, and brazil are the top hydro users. China now has 16 under construction and the United states has ZERO, the ONLY way we can fight back against BIG OIL is to use another product. Every dollar we spend on hydro, solar or wind power is a dollar taken away from big oil, and the only real competition they face,________________________

The United States currently has over 2000 hydroelectric power plants
which supply electricity ... Dedicated hydroelectric projects are often built to
provide the substantial power in the U S ..... Paraguay produces 100% of its electricity from hydroelectric dams, ...
　

[paddledude]

12:29 PM on 03/21/2012

No...........That is NOT the only way, there are plenty of other ways to combat the high oil prices. Drill Baby drill!!! Even the threat of it would bring down prices, like, tomorrow. That is not to say don't use other sources as well because we should but only where applicable. They should all work together.

[DANIELISTICALL]

12:41 PM on 03/21/2012

FALSE,,, drilling is at a all time high right now ,, it has not and will not work,,,TURN OFF FIX NEWS

[enaud]

12:47 PM on 03/21/2012

Its a short term fix......the oil won't last forever.

[littlelprd]

12:54 PM on 03/21/2012

There are 7 hydroelectric dams in Arizona alone. Last I checked, Arizona is part of the United States. A little research doesn't hurt

[DANIELISTICALL]

01:18 PM on 03/21/2012

they are NOT under construction,,, a little READING doesnt hurt either