Watershed pollution trial starts in Tulsa
40 to 50 days of testimony are expected in state’s case against poultry industry

BY CURTIS KILLMAN - Tulsa World Comments 1
Published: September 25, 2009

TULSA — Attorney General Drew Edmondson painted a bleak picture of the Illinois River watershed Thursday as the state opened its case in a pollution lawsuit against the poultry industry.

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Also named in the lawsuit

The other defendants named in the lawsuit are Cargill Inc., Cal-Maine Foods Inc.; Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cargill Turkey Production LLC, George’s Inc., George’s Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc. and Simmons Foods Inc.

Lake Tenkiller, once described as "crystal clear,” has become polluted over the years with a "great deal of the responsibility” at the hands of the poultry industry, he said.

Hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkeys are raised each year in the watershed, which straddles the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line, Edmondson said. The resulting poultry waste is applied to area fields as fertilizer for crops, he said.

The attorney general said the state would present evidence during the trial — which is expected to involve 40 to 50 days of testimony — that will show how excessive use of poultry "litter,” as the waste is called by the industry, has contributed to the degradation of its lakes and streams.

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