The governor called it a ticking, environmental time bomb, but now more than one million gallons of waste have been removed from the USS Yorktown, a popular tourist attraction in the Charleston Harbor.
“Had these materials leaked, they would have caused catastrophic damage,” said Gov. Henry McMaster.
Gov. McMaster was joined on the USS Yorktown Wednesday by state and local leaders, as well as members of the South Carolina Office of Resilience to announce the ship’s environmental remediation project is complete.
More than 1.6 million gallons of hazardous materials have been removed as well as nine tons of asbestos. The clean-up was part of the governor’s 2022 executive order to preserve the ship’s history despite a hefty price tag.
“Spending 36.1 million dollars to get her clean as a whistle,” said Gov. McMaster.
“It’s a delight to see people going through and looking at this (the ship) because when you can see it and touch it, then you can understand it.”
Decommissioned in 1970, the aircraft carrier was donated to the Patriots Point Development Authority “as is”. Erosion to its outer hull had put pollutants at risk of leaking into the Charleston Harbor.
Every year, thousands of tourists visit the historic ship which was used during World War II, Vietnam, and the recovery of the Appollo 8 astronauts.
