CHICAGO – Several environmental groups want the Illinois Pollution Control Board to order Midwest Generation to clean up groundwater pollution that allegedly leached from coal-ash ponds at four of the company’s power plants.

The Environmental Integrity Project and the Environmental Law & Policy Center filed a legal complaint with the board Wednesday on behalf of several environmental groups, alleging that groundwater at the utility’s Joliet, Pekin, Romeoville and Waukegan plants is contaminated with toxic pollutants – such as arsenic, boron and selenium – in levels that exceed state and federal standards.

The complaint asks the board to order the company to stop open dumping of coal ash at those plants and to clean up groundwater.