Updated 5/19/2021 3:49 PM SPRINGFIELD -- After years of work by environmental activists to push action on the issue, the Illinois Pollution Control Board has issued findings and recommendations related to the regulation of coal ash storage -- an action advocates call "the first of its kind" in the state. Coal ash, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is the collection of byproducts of coal-burning power plants, which includes fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and various other residues.
The material, also referred to as coal combustion residual, is typically kept in storage ponds located on the grounds near coal-burning power plants, known as surface impoundments.