BRIDGETON, Mo. (AP) – The U.S. government says the owner of a burning suburban St. Louis landfill near buried radioactive waste has agreed to new measures meant to slow and help monitor the blaze.
Environmental Protection Agency regional chief Mark Hague said Thursday that Republic Services will install temperature monitors and cooling loops, which are meant to control the underground fire’s temperature.
Hague says the company also will broaden a plastic cover over the landfill, partly to suppress odors and to block out oxygen that could feed the below-ground blaze.
The smoldering Bridgeton Landfill west of St. Louis is adjacent to the radioactively contaminated West Lake Landfill.
Hague says there’s no evidence that the underground fire is advancing rapidly. He says the moves Thursday were precautionary.