Mines May Be Sealed With Tainted Mud

Hoping to solve two environmental problems in one fell swoop, officials want to use mud dredged from New York Harbor to seal abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania, the New York Times reported. The deal could provide a long-term depository for dredged harbor mud and give Pennsylvania an inexpensive solution to a nagging problem, the paper said. Many of the mines leach acid runoff into rivers and streams. Estimates put the cost of sealing them without the harbor mud at $15 billion, according to the paper. The state issued a permit in June to allow as much as 500,000 tons of the mud to be deposited in the mines. Much of it contains traces of dioxin and other pollutants, but environmental officials say it does not threaten people or the land. A Sierra Club official criticized the plan as hastily approved and poorly designed.