The Missouri Department of Natural Resources had ordered Republic Services in December of 2015 to start building the heat extraction system right away, but Republic appealed the order before the Administrative Hearing Commission.

After the ruling, Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying: “The people of Bridgeton are fed up with Republic Services delays… it should begin the installation of the cooling loops immediately.”

"As the AG’s office knows, we have been working diligently over the past weeks with EPA, MDNR, and the AG’s office on a comprehensive solution for continuing to ensure the separation of the subsurface reaction in the South Quarry and the West Lake Landfill site, including the installation of cooling loops. The AG’s office also knows that the cooling loops may ultimately fall under the jurisdiction of EPA, not MDNR. There has never been any question about the Landfill’s willingness to install additional cooling loops. Nor, has there been any question about their effectiveness – the subsurface reaction is isolated to the South Quarry and the Landfill remains in a managed state.The statement from the AG’s office appears, unfortunately, to be more about litigation posturing than about moving swiftly to an effective solution."