By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Attorney General Chris Koster has cleared the Missouri Department of Natural Resources of an ethics complaint over its delayed release of an E. coli report from the Lake of the Ozarks.
The findings showed E-Coli levels at two separate spots on May 26th to be 19 times higher than the state standard.
The complaint was filed by Ken Midkiff of the Missouri Clean Water Campaign, and accused the DNR of violating the state's open meetings and records laws when it delayed the release of the E-Coli findings by one month.
But in his report, Koster says there was no violation because no one had sought the data in a form that the DNR should have interpreted as a Sunshine Law request.
Midkiff blasted the investigation's findings.
"It appears to me that the Attorney General's office conducted this investigation in a hurried and shabby manner, and ended up with kind of a partisan snow-job," Midkiff said.
Meanwhile, DNR Director Mark Templeton says they'll review Koster's findings and implement any suggestions made in his report.