FRANKFORT – Environmental groups are reacting to news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has apparently sat on information for seven years that documents health risks for people, animal and fish near coal-fired power plants landfills and waste ponds.

Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and a former EPA official, says neighboring communities show a higher cancer risk near places because of toxins making their way into groundwater.

“Unlined waste ponds can result in exposures up to nine times the federal standard for lead, and there are additional toxic metals that exceed thresholds, which are generally established to protect people,” Schaeffer told reporters Friday.

Representatives from another environmental group, Earthjustice, call the EPA’s actions in withholding the findings “unconscionable.”

According to report, 20 states have five or more high-risk sites. Lined wastewater ponds exist in Kentucky in Lawrence, Clark, Mercer and Woodford counties.