President Rob Guidry said the company has been working steadily to bring its Petersburg site in line with the terms of a consent order issued in September 2015 after a landslide on the waste mound in May of that year.

As part of that agreement, Guidry explained, “We were asked to relocate some coal ash that we used in construction” of retaining walls and other structures within the landfill. Under the terms of the 2015 order, CFS had agreed to reconfigure the landfill, including reducing the angle of the sloping sides to help prevent any future landslides.

Coal ash, the residue left after coal is burned in coal-fired power plants, has been widely used as a landscaping fill-in material, and is also recycled into building materials such as concrete and wallboard. However, “Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium and arsenic,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Without proper management, these contaminants can pollute waterways, ground water, drinking water and the air.”