[www.ferro-alloys.com]FOLKSTON, Ga. (AP) - State environmental officials are investigating after elevated levels of a potentially hazardous metal were found in a landfill near the Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia.

The metal - vanadium - was detected at a groundwater monitoring well at the Chesser Island Road Landfill in Charlton County, authorities said.

The discovery has prompted another wave of concern in south Georgia over disposal and storage of coal ash, the toxic byproduct of burning coal for electricity, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported (bit.ly/28JOi84).

Levels of vanadium have been “generally increasing” since 2012 at the Waste Management Inc. dump, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division wrote in a letter earlier this year.

Millions of pounds of coal ash - which also contains arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury - have been accepted at the landfill, and environmental groups fear coal ash may be to blame, the Atlanta newspaper reported.

• [Editor:Jiang Li Juan ]