DNR: Coal And Magnetite Found Along Lake Michigan Not From We Energies

Department of Natural Resource officials say the chunks of coal and a powdery metallic substance that washed up along the shore of Lake Michigan last November didn't come from We Energies, according to a story in the Journal Times.

The DNR's findings are consistent with the preliminary findings, which at the time had found that the black sandy substance was magnetite and the chunky objects were coal.

But the question remained - because of its proximity to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant and the bluff collapse in 2011 - where did these substances come from?

According to the Journal Times story, the coal "was burned years ago" and "is likely either coal that was burned by a power plant years ago or from a coal-fired vessel, like the Manitowoc-based SS Badger ferry, that could dump coal ash into the lake."

In November, Eric Nitschke, southeast regional director for the DNR, said the coal might have fallen off of a barge years ago.

"There were coal barges that carried quite a bit of coal through this area at one time because it used to be one of the shipping lanes," Nitschke said. "But we can't speculate on how it got (on the beach), but we're making sure that it's not a health hazard."

Some environmental groups have raised concerns about coal ash since it contains arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and selenium, which are "known to cause cancer and neurological damage in humans. They can also harm and kill wildlife, especially fish and other water-dwelling species." And if inhaled, some of the "forms of recycling may endanger human health from airborne particles, even where no water is involved," wrote Barbara Gottlieb, a Harvard professor in a report.

However, in the past officials with We Energies have disputed with those claims. Cathy Schulze, a spokeswoman for We Energies, said in a prior interview that coal ash is not a toxic substance, and the EPA doesn’t list it as a toxic substance.

"We even recycle 100 percent of the coal ash we produce," she said.