We Energies to pay $100,000 for bluff collapse

We Energies has agreed to pay $100,000 for violating state environmental regulations before a 2011 bluff collapse that sent a huge amount of coal ash and other sediment into Lake Michigan.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Racine County Circuit Court Judge Gerald Ptacek approved the settlement Monday.

The Department of Natural Resources had accused We Energies of violating three environmental regulations, including failing to revise its erosion control plans after a retention pond was moved.

The collapse happened on the southern part of a large We Energies complex in Oak Creek, a southern suburb of Milwaukee in October 2011. The area is near a spot where pollution-control equipment was being installed at the time. The debris swept several construction trailers toward the beach.

No injuries were reported.