HARRISBURG — A legislative funding deadlock may temporarily halt work on dozens of environmental cleanups across Pennsylvania, state officials said Thursday.

Without money, contractors who are decontaminating soil, waterways and wells — usually at abandoned industrial sites or landfills — will be making plans to safely stop their work, Department of Environmental Protection press secretary Neil Weaver said.

In early January, the department will furlough most of the Hazardous Sites Cleanup program's 130 workers, Weaver said. The program needs about $18 million to get through the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

House Democrats say they want to pass a stopgap bill to give them time to search for a permanent funding source. But Senate Republicans oppose a House Democratic bill that could be voted on next week.

Primarily, the GOP objects because it deletes a provision from a Senate-passed bill that called for $40 million a year for the next three years.