1973 • B&K Construction, a contractor for uranium producer Cotter Corp., dumps uranium-processing waste at West Lake without authorization.
August 2005 • The Bridgeton Landfill stops accepting waste to reduce the potential for birds to interfere with operations at nearby Lambert-ºüÀêÊÓƵ International Airport.
June 2008 • Republic Services agrees to buy Allied Waste, entering the ºüÀêÊÓƵ market and taking ownership of the landfills.
December 2010 • Republic reports underground smoldering at the landfill.
February 2013 • The Department of Natural Resources and orders Republic to pay for air sampling.
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March 2013 • Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster sues Republic, accusing the company of violating state environmental laws. An agreement, reached in May, that includes capping the landfill by early September.
September 2013 • between the Bridgeton and West Lake landfills to alleviate concern that the reaction will spread to radioactive contamination in West Lake.
August 2014 • Republic Services is nearly finished with a wastewater plant. A leachate collection system, a gas extraction system and a cap and flare system to .
September 2014 • DNR consultant warns that fire is , which is adjacent to West Lake, and is not under control, .
January 2015 • Another DNR consultant warns of air intrusion and the possibility of a subsurface fire, or the precursor to one, in “close proximity†to the .
May 2015 • The EPA begins it now believes may be in the northern edge of the Bridgeton Landfill, outside of the restricted West Lake area.
August 2015 • DNR asks for more measures to and keep it from reaching the northern portion of the landfill.
September 2015 • Koster releases expert reports indicating that the fire is moving closer to the radioactive waste and that .
October 2015 • ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and , prompting widespread concern. Construction on the barrier from West Lake, awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, still has not started.
August 2016: Regional EPA officials say they hope to by the end of the year. They later announced that the decision had been postponed.
December 2017: Before a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the agency a cleanup proposal at West Lake in January. The following day, the site was named one of 21 Superfund sites in the country to be targeted for based on the recommendations of a Superfund Task Force.
Februrary 2018: The EPA the site's "radiologically impacted material," to a depth of 16 feet. The approach would be paired with installation of a cap designed to meet certain standards for containing uranium radiation.
Editor's note:ÌýThis timeline has been revised to reflect that B&K's disposal of radioactive material in West Lake was unauthorized.