The Ottumwa-Midland Landfill holds ash from one of Iowa’s few remaining coal power plants.

A stew of substances marinates within the landfill’s basin that, at high enough concentrations, is hazardous to human health.

Any liquid discharges from the landfill are subject to state and federal rules governing safe treatment and disposal. But the rules aren’t so clear when it comes to the groundwater pumped out from beneath the landfill.

That water—and the chemicals it contains— are at the center of a regulatory battle between the landfill’s parent company, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and environmental groups pushing for an end to coal energy in the state.

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