Exxon Settlement May Be Near, Alaska Governor Says : Environment: State seeks $1.2 billion to drop court action over oil spill. Other litigants fear accord might hurt their suits.

After several weeks of talks, an out-of-court settlement may be near in the government lawsuits over the Exxon Valdez oil spill, with Alaska’s governor saying a final deal could be struck by next week.

“It’s getting close,” said Gov. Walter J. Hickel, who has flown to Washington twice recently to meet with representatives of the federal government and Exxon Corp. “I think there’s a lot of progress going on.”

Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), acting chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, said earlier this week that he had been told the federal government is “preparing to announce” a settlement and that he had sent a letter urging Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh to slow down and consult Congress before any deal is made.

Alaska officials have been pressing for a payment of $1.2 billion from Exxon in exchange for dropping a state civil lawsuit and federal criminal charges over damage caused by the spill of nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound in March, 1989. It was the worst spill in American history.

The tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef, and oil polluted about 600 miles of coastline, killed tens of thousands of birds and marine mammals and temporarily shut down some of the most productive fishing waters in the nation. Exxon has reported spending about $2 billion to clean up the oil, although state environmental authorities have said still more work may be needed.

Hickel, a former secretary of the Interior under President Richard M. Nixon, has been pushing for a settlement since he was elected in November. He has said he wants to place the Exxon payment into a trust fund that would be managed jointly by the state and federal governments, with the company having a voice in how it is spent.

Hickel has said also that he wants to use the fund to create a marine sanctuary and recreation area in Prince William Sound, buy privately held timber land on its shores to prevent logging, pay for long-term scientific studies of the spill’s impact and fund any future Exxon Valdez cleanup.

Representatives of both Exxon and in the Department of Justice have refused to discuss whether a settlement is near or what shape an agreement might take. A Justice spokeswoman said Thursday that the government is still preparing for the federal criminal trial, scheduled to start in Anchorage on April 10.

Word of an impending settlement has rankled some members of Congress, national environmental groups, state legislators here and least some Alaska citizens. If the government cases are dropped, Exxon still faces hundreds of private claims by fishermen and others who say they were damaged by the spill, and some of them are worried that the settlement could hurt their chances in court.

Among the concerns are whether scientific evidence collected by state and federal governments, considered vital to the private lawsuits, will be made available after a settlement. So far, all such information has been kept secret.

Miller called on Thornburgh to allow 30 days for public comment before a settlement is signed.

“In recent days, I have been contacted by a variety of of parties--ranging from mayors of communities in Alaska to individual fishermen--who are deeply concerned both that they have been excluded from the negotiations and that a settlement may prejudice their ability to receive full and fair compensation from Exxon,” Miller wrote in his letter.

Hickel first discussed the idea of a settlement in a private meeting with Exxon Chairman Lawrence G. Rawl in Juneau shortly after he took office in December. Since then, Hickel has been in Washington twice for meetings on a possible settlement. Alaska’s attorney general, Charles Cole, has been in Washington since Tuesday, a spokesman here said.

Hickel, who has refused to talk about details of the negotiations, said Wednesday that he may join Cole in Washington by the weekend. But he cautioned that the negotiations could still fall through.

A proposed settlement was scrapped last winter after Alaska state officials rejected the deal. Soon after that, a federal grand jury indicted Exxon on five criminal charges--two felonies and three misdemeanors. Federal officials said at the time that the charges were intended to send a message to corporate polluters.

Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood was tried on state criminal charges last year but was acquitted of all but a minor count.