// a href = ./ //

Missouri's Department of Natural Resources is asking the state attorney general's office to consider legal action against the owners of a Bridgeton landfill. A smoldering fire at the site has been spewing noxious fumes that local residents complain is literally making their eyes water.

NR Director Sara Parker Pauley sent a letter Thursday asking the attorney general’s agricultural and environment division to "institute appropriate legal action" against the Bridgeton Sanitary Landfill on St. Charles Rock Road. The move comes of the heels of a lawsuit filed by residents against Republic Services, which owns the 52-acre site just north of Lambert Airport.

The Phoenix-based company says they've been cooperating with state and local officials to deal with the problems.

Radiation exposure from Coldwater Creek isn't responsible for increased cancer rates among north county residents. That's according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services which released the results of a study yesterday.

State epidemiologists studied the incidence and death rates of 27 types of cancer in six ZIP codes along the creek, but found that rates of the two cancer types most commonly caused by radiation exposure - leukemias and thyroid tumors - were the same or lower than would have been expected.

Former north county residents say the study was incomplete, because it didn't count cancer victims who had moved away from the area before getting sick.

Coldwater Creek had been contaminated by nuclear waste after World War II.

A group of residents worried about health issues from a foul odor a suing the owners of a Bridgeton landfill.

The action follows testing by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources that showed elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide in the air. The noxious compound can cause headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation, and even breathing trouble.

But a representative for the company that owns the landfill, Republic Services, denies any danger. Republic officials say EPA and DNR testing show the odor presents no risk to the public.

A report on the DNR website says the levels of hydrogen sulfide are high enough to warrant monitoring and would pose a health risk if they intensify further.