COLCHESTER, Vt. -- It could cost more than $200 million to clean up hazardous waste from an abandoned asbestos mine in northern Vermont, state and federal officials said.

The state is hoping to recover the costs of the clean up from two owners of the closed mine. One of those companies is in bankruptcy and an attorney for the other said the company has minimal assets.

Assistant Attorney General John Beling said preliminary estimates say the cleanup could cost between $210 million and $250 million.

The asbestos mine in Lowell and Eden operated for almost a century. All that's left now are piles of waste rock, some of which contain asbestos, which, the federal government said, can cause cancer.