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State Attorney General Chides EPA over West Lake Landfill

Attorney General Chris Koster, who will prosecute the case.
Attorney General's Office
Attorney General Chris Koster, who will prosecute the case.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency for missing deadlines in its planned cleanup of the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis.

Koster says in a letter to EPA officials that progress on the landfill, where nuclear waste was dumped in the 1970s, is taking longer than the agency initially projected. He's asking the EPA to disclose a study on the extent of radioactive contamination in the area and details for a barrier to separate West Lake from an adjacent landfill where an underground fire is burning.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the EPA plans to release some of the information Koster is calling for. But the agency argues that deadlines sometimes must change due to the complexity of a scientific review or negotiations.

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