document: 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 .
extractive_keyphrases: oil spill alaskan coastline exxon tanker polluted areas valdez spill crude oil prices exxon officials cleanup plan oiled coastline
abstractive_keyphrases: oil-tainted shores