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This is interesting! I wonder if these funds will be miss-used to close up other than coal mines...
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Feds offer Utah $4M to seal up abandoned mines
by Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/22/2009 03:45:05 PM MST
Washington » Utah could get more than $4 million to help seal abandoned coal mines in the state, an increase of more than $500,000 from last year, the Interior Department announced Tuesday.
The state has about 500 mines, most with multiple openings, that already have been closed. But officials can now revisit those mines to do more environmental cleanup and more tightly shutter them, says Lucia Malin, the program administrator for the Utah Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.
The funds -- paid through fees on operating coal mines -- cannot go toward other non-coal mines; the state has about 17,000 abandoned mines, Malin says.
Interior says it upped funding nationwide for sealing the mines by $70 million this year to $369 million available to states with abandoned coal mines. Utah will apply for its funds early next year, Malin said.
tburr@sltrib.com
__________________________________________________ _________________________________________
Feds offer Utah $4M to seal up abandoned mines
by Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/22/2009 03:45:05 PM MST
Washington » Utah could get more than $4 million to help seal abandoned coal mines in the state, an increase of more than $500,000 from last year, the Interior Department announced Tuesday.
The state has about 500 mines, most with multiple openings, that already have been closed. But officials can now revisit those mines to do more environmental cleanup and more tightly shutter them, says Lucia Malin, the program administrator for the Utah Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.
The funds -- paid through fees on operating coal mines -- cannot go toward other non-coal mines; the state has about 17,000 abandoned mines, Malin says.
Interior says it upped funding nationwide for sealing the mines by $70 million this year to $369 million available to states with abandoned coal mines. Utah will apply for its funds early next year, Malin said.
tburr@sltrib.com
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