Exxon Submits Strategy on Alaska Cleanup Plan
Exxon officials Monday released a revised plan for cleansing 364 miles of Alaskan coastline fouled by the nation's largest oil spill, but said their proposal requires a suspension of local environmental laws. The plan makes no provisions for continuing the cleanup beyond mid-September, and notes that 191 miles of lightly oiled coastline may not be cleaned mechanically at all, but be allowed to be washed naturally by the environment. ``It is expected that this will be the case for all lightly oiled Gulf of Alaska sites,'' said the two-part, 60-page report. ``We are going to have to take a hard look at that,'' responded Bill Lamoreaux, the ranking state environmental official monitoring the cleanup. Since March 24, when an Exxon tanker struck a reef outside Valdez and poured more than 10 million gallons of North Slope crude into Prince William Sound, Exxon has financed cleanup crews fighting the spreading sludge. Signs of the spill have been sighted about 500 miles southwest of Valdez. The oil company's strategy, which was submitted to state and federal authorities only hours before a deadline expired, divides Alaska's oil-tainted shores into four categories _ from the most heavily polluted to those that are ``only lightly oiled.'' It covers polluted areas within Prince William Sound, as well as those outside the immediate spill zone, and calls for nearly 3,400 workers to participate in the cleanup. The worst areas _ three miles of sludge-covered beaches on several small islands _ would be targeted immediately, with the others scheduled for gradual cleansing through Sept. 15. Exxon's plan calls for the recovered waste to be strained for usable oil that can be refined, and said the oil-laced wastewater could be treated at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s disposal plant in Valdez. The gunk and sludge that resists treatment or salvage will be burned or buried, according to the Exxon study. Both methods likely will require exemptions from local environmental laws. Coast Guard Adm. Paul A. Yost Jr., the ranking federal official tracking the cleanup, told reporters in Sacramento, Calif. that he would decide whether to approve the proposal within a week. Before the plan was released, Yost said he wanted much more detail than Exxon's original cleanup plan, which included nothing on polluted areas outside the sound. Yost is scheduled to arrive in Valdez on Tuesday to review the latest plan. Meanwhile, tar and sludge from the Valdez spill fouled the beaches of Alaska's wild Katmai National Park, drenching hundreds of sea otters and birds and threatening the huge brown bears prowling the refuge. The damage stretches along 260 miles of rocky, rugged coastline southwestward from Cape Douglas some 500 miles from Valdez, park superintendent Ray Bane said Monday. ``The oil has made landfall in large quantities in Katmai Bay and Hallo Bay. There is a heavy impact. We have seen several hundred sea otters swimming in oil. The oil has had an impact on virtually the entire coastline of the park,'' Bane said. The 4 million-acre park also is a haven for brown bears, a coastal cousin of the grizzly. ``A number of bears have been seen walking in the vicinity of the beaches. We have one verified sighting of a bear walking through the oil,'' Bane said. Bane said an aerial survey showed an amorphous oil patch 10 miles wide and more than 20 miles long in the Shelikof Strait, which is located along the migration route used by whales. Exxon is feeling the effects of the spill far beyond Alaska waters. Several groups throughout the country have called for a boycott Tuesday of Exxon products. In Anchorage, a group called the Boycott Exxon Alliance has scheduled a rally in front of Exxon's Alaska headquarters. The attorneys general of Idaho, Oregon and Washington state scheduled a news conference Tuesday to call for a federal investigation into the sharp rise in the price of gasoline since the spill. The oil industry blames the spill and crude oil prices that have risen $7 a barrel since January for higher prices at the gas pumps. Exxon also received sharp criticism from the federal government, which accused the company of ``foot-dragging'' in the construction of a second facility in Seward to aid in the cleanup of sea otters fouled by the oil. The animals depend on their thick fur for insulation against the cold water but the oil ruins the insulation effect. Exxon says the center will open Wednesday.
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