Farmers: Lawsuit is attack
Posted on Friday, November 16, 2007
The Poultry Community Council on Thursday accused Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson of trying to destroy the poultry industry.
Jackie Cunningham, the council’s community relations director, said Edmondson wrongly targeted eight poultry companies with a lawsuit filed in 2005.
The council, created last year by poultry companies, aims to educate the public about the companies and poultry farmers.
“I feel like he’s targeting out-of-state companies,” Cunningham said. “Look at the cattlemen’s association. They have a substantial voice in the state of Oklahoma, and he’s not targeting them.” Cunningham’s comments came a day after Edmondson requested that the U. S. District Court in Tulsa issue a preliminary injunction to forbid the spreading of poultry litter on crops in the Illinois River watershed. Edmondson wants a January hearing on his request.
The companies sued by Edmondson are Tyson Foods of Springdale, Simmons Foods of Siloam Springs, Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis, Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs, George’s Inc. of Springdale, Peterson Farms Inc. of Decatur, Willow Brook Foods of Springfield, Mo., and Cal-Maine Foods Inc. of Jackson, Miss.
Edmondson said Wednesday that water testing within the watershed showed fecal bacteria levels comparable to what’s in sewage. He alleged water is harmed by the spreading of poultry litter.
Cunningham said Edmondson failed to provide specific examples if he had evidence of damage caused by poultry farming. In a news release, Edmondson mentioned an “imminent and substantial endangerment” posed by poultry litter.
“There is no ‘imminent and substantial endangerment’ to public health from the safe, government-regulated practice of using poultry manure as fertilizer,” Cunningham said in a statement. “If there were, Oklahoma’s own state officials who monitor the river and protect the health of Oklahoma’s citizens surely would have addressed it.” Charlie Price, a spokesman for Edmondson’s office, said the companies received information during discovery about damage litter is causing in the watershed.
“We have long believed that the poultry industry’s actions are a hazard to our environment, but the data collected by scientists and experts through the course of this lawsuit has convinced us that the threat to human health is greater than we first thought,” Price said Thursday in a statement. “The [Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality ] has compiled a list of eight water bodies in the watershed as impaired for primary body-contact recreation because of bacteria associated with poultry waste.
“ We presented the court with facts. Today, corporate poultry responds with spin.”
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