Poultry litter lawsuit opening up
Tulsa hearing next week draws adversaries' jabs
Poultry litter lawsuit opening up

By Jim Stafford

Published: February 14, 2008

The poultry industry and state Attorney General Drew Edmondson traded verbal jabs Wednesday that serve as a warm-up to a federal court hearing in Tulsa next week over chicken litter.

In November, the attorney general filed a request in federal court for a preliminary injunction that would halt the spread of chicken litter on land in the 1-million-acre Illinois River watershed in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. The court will hear arguments next week over Edmond's motion.

"These are the kind of false generalities Mr. Edmondson has been using in legal proceedings against the poultry industry, in which he admits he lacks evidence that poultry farmers have violated the laws or caused pollution,” said Jackie Cunningham, spokeswoman for the poultry industry.

In fact, state health officials have not documented any adverse health effects of people swimming or boating in water in the Illinois River watershed, said Cunningham, director of community relations for the Poultry Community Council.

However, Edmondson said the poultry industry is using the same argument that the tobacco industry used when accused of causing cancer in people.

"We can show that fecal bacteria from poultry waste is reaching the surface water and groundwater,” Edmondson said. "We can point to areas where the bacterial count in runoff water from poultry waste disposal fields were similar to those found in raw, untreated human sewage.”

The state filed the action because of its concern for people who use the watershed, Edmondson said.

"Our concern is for the health of the citizens who drink from wells and springs or swim and fish in the Illinois River watershed,” he said. "We believe that also will be the court's concern, even if the poultry companies do not share that priority.”

Integrated poultry companies are mostly in Arkansas, but an estimated 500 poultry houses raise millions of birds annually in eastern Oklahoma.

"Poultry litter is one of the best forms of fertilizer available, Cunningham said. "Contract poultry producers, not the poultry companies, are the ones who own the litter. They use it as a natural fertilizer and soil amendment for their crops and also profit from the litter they don't use by selling it as a fertilizer to others.”

Cunningham said that Edmondson has no grounds for a ban on spread of poultry litter because there is no evidence of actual harm or "imminent danger” to the public.

Edmonson's request for the ban on spreading of litter appears to be maneuvering in a pollution lawsuit he filed in 2005 against 14 mostly Arkansas-based poultry companies, accusing them of responsibility for pollution in rivers and lakes in the Illinois River watershed.

The complaint claims some of the country's largest providers of chicken, turkey and eggs violate the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, state and federal nuisance laws, and Oklahoma Environmental Quality and Agriculture rules.

Named in the lawsuit are Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb Vantress Inc., Aviagen Inc., Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Cal-Maine Farms Inc., Cargill Inc., Cargill Turkey Production LLC, George's Inc., George's Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc. and Willow Brook Foods Inc.

No trial date has been set, but a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said estimates put the start of the trial some time in 2009.

Jerry Hunton, who farms 600 acres with poultry in eight chicken houses as well as cattle, near Prairie Grove, Ark., said he is "flabbergasted” by Edmondon's lawsuit. Chicken litter is a highly sought-after fertilizer that is far more effective than commercial fertilizers, he said.

"It's going to affect us tremendously,” Hunton said of the proposed ban on spreading litter. "I figure right now if I had to replace what I use on my farm with commercial fertilizer it would cost me about $35,000, and then I won't get the forage off that that I get off chicken litter. I'm going to be impacted on the expense side and on the beef production side.”

It will be up to the court to decide the fate of Hunton and his counterparts who tend flocks in the Illinois River watershed.

"Both sides will stand before the federal court next week,” Edmondson said. "The state will stand behind the facts, statistics, science and the law. Who will the corporate polluters hide behind?”

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