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Release: Attorney General Koster pressures EPA to publicly release information regarding West Lake and Bridgeton landfills

–Koster demands EPA release radiological maps, research data, and isolation barrier design plans–

Jefferson City, Mo – Attorney General Chris Koster today sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency criticizing the agency for its failure to meet self-imposed deadlines for work at the West Lake and Bridgeton landfill sites and demanding greater responsiveness and transparency.

In the letter, Koster outlined three specific commitments that have been made by EPA and have not been fulfilled. He highlighted EPA’s promises to conclusively determine the extent of radioactive contamination at and around West Lake, to identify an engineering solution to separate whatever radioactive waste is found from the underground fire burning at the Bridgeton landfill, and to conduct pyrolysis testing that would shed light on the potential consequences of the fire reaching the radiological material. Koster pointed out that each of those promises has gone unfulfilled, and he asked that EPA set deadlines to complete these tasks and then complete them.

“Too much time has been lost already,” Koster said. “If the EPA does not intend to follow through on its obligations, it should say so and allow a more responsive agency to step in and do the work.”