Edmondson preparing appeal for poultry case
BY ROBERT J. SMITH
Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Oklahoma lost its bid to stop poultry litter spreading in the Illinois River watershed, but the state indicated Monday it’s interested in appealing that decision to the 10 th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Charlie Price, a spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said the state has “discovered several issues we believe must be brought to the higher court’s attention.” It filed its notice of appeal Friday with the U. S. District Court in Tulsa.
Oklahoma in 2005 sued Springdale-based Tyson Foods and several other poultry companies with operations in Arkansas, claiming that the spreading of poultry litter on farm fields in the watershed violated federal laws.
Edmondson asked for an injunction in November, trying to put it in place before spring when most poultry litter is spread on hayfields. In his request, Edmondson contended litter was “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976. He also said the practice of spreading litter threatened human health because the litter contains fecal bacteria. Read More
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is going to continue on his crusade to have poultry litter considered a toxic substance. This is the very same poultry litter that people pay money for to fertilize not just fields, but gardens and lawns as well. It is becoming more obvious that this case for the Attorney General is more motivated by politics than anything else. The judge basically told him how to win this case, and that was by going after every possible source of fecal bacteria, which would include all livestock and humans. He knows that would be political suicide to go after every homeowner in the watershed area so he continues down this fruitless path of only targeting poultry farmers.
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