Oklahoma AG Wants To Speed Up Testing

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office is anxious for spring.

The heavy rains, combined with the likelihood farmers will clean out their chicken houses, provide the best chance for them to test the Illinois River watershed area for pollutants.

Citing “imminent threats to human health,” Oklahoma AG Drew Edmondson filed a “motion for leave to conduct expedited discovery” on Feb. 22 in U.S. District Court in Tulsa.

The hearing is scheduled for March 23 in Tulsa, and attorneys for the defense were scheduled to file a response to the motion by March 13.

The motion is related to a case originally filed this past June involving 14 poultry companies in Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma including Tyson Foods Inc. and George’s Inc. of Springdale, Simmons Foods Inc. of Siloam Springs and Peterson Farms Inc. of Decatur.

The hearing comes after the U.S. Supreme Court decided on Feb. 21 not to use original jurisdiction over the case the Arkansas Attorney General’s office argued was a state-versus-state issue.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma AG’s office maintains it is a state-versus-company issue, said Charlie Price, spokesman for the Oklahoma AG office.

Water Woes

On June 13, Edmondson’s office filed a lawsuit claiming that runoff from the improper handling of poultry waste has polluted Oklahoma streams and lakes.

In November, Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe asked the court for permission to file a bill of complaint, saying Edmondson was spoiling terms reached in the Arkansas River Basin Compact, which was formed between the two states in 1970.

“There are already provisions in place to improve water quality in the Arkansas River Basin, and Oklahoma should respect our progress in addressing these issues instead of trying to force Arkansas farmers and other businesses to abide by Oklahoma law,” Beebe said in a news release at the time of the June filing.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, the Arkansas AG’s role in the case will be limited, said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Beebe’s office.

Price said the state doesn’t want to waste any time conducting limited discovery in the case.

Price said the motion essentially states that this is the best time of year to test water and soil samples.

Private Property

Scott McDaniel — outside counsel for one of the defendants, Peterson Farms, and partner in Joyce Paul & McDaniel PLLC of Tulsa — said it’s probably unlikely that the judge will make a ruling at the March 23 hearing.

He said when filed, the defendant’s response will likely take issue with the Oklahoma AG’s office allegedly seeking to have rules waived without justification, its desire to enter private property without probable cause and its desire to test on that property with complete lack of specificity of how the testing will be done.

“The state is asking for discovery rules to set aside,” McDaniel said. “If you are going to ask for emergency concessions, then you have to show that it is justified.”

One of the issues at hand is laryngotracheitis, a viral infection that primarily affects chickens.

“The lawsuit claims the poultry companies tried to block their sampling,” McDaniel said. “They just wanted the testers to follow bio-security protocol.” McDaniel said industry protocol is to wait 72 hours after visiting one poultry farm to visit another.

McDaniel said the state wouldn’t address the possible loss or infection of birds while on site.

But the state of Oklahoma maintains it was lawful in its request to test and that certain testing is already required by law.

But McDaniel said what the AG’s office is asking to do is allegedly more invasive than what the law says they can do.

McDaniel said one of the absurd points of the case in his opinion is the fact that most of the farmers in question are probably already following a litter application or “nutrient management plan” that was laid out for them by the state or federal government.