The Kennedys Take on the Tysons
by November 26, 2001 12:00 am 110 views
The law firm of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is among those joining in the aid of property owners near the Oklahoma and Missouri borders accusing Springdale’s Tyson Foods Inc. of polluting Grand Lake in Oklahoma.
Kennedy is the son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
Some land owners are eager to see if they can make a fast buck like those who successfully settled with Siloam Springs’ Simmons Foods Inc. for $10 million when they accused the poultry company of contaminating Honey Creek, which feeds into Grand Lake.
The latest lawsuit claims Tyson Foods has discharged millions of gallons of wastewater from its Noel, Mo., processing plant into the Elk River, which also feeds into Grand Lake.
Kennedy said that for years Tyson has made itself rich by impoverishing the people and the environment around its plants.
The suit alleges Tyson is liable for waste being used as fertilizer running into the lake has brought foul odor, poultry remains, oil slicks and scum to the lake’s shoreline.
The suit fails to consider that the number of poultry farms along the tributaries that feed Grand Lake are small in number in comparison to the cattle farms as far away as Emporia, Kan., and Carthage, Mo. that do likewise. And most cattle farms put down chemical fertilizers that can also run off into creeks and rivers.
Tyson spokesman Ed Nicholson said the company is perplexed that this legal action singles out his company among thousands of potential sources of pollution.
Tyson noted in a Nov. 12 press release that the Grand Lake watershed — which covers an area of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas — collects water from a land mass that encompasses 10,298 square miles, an area more than twice the size of Connecticut. It also has many other point sources in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma discharging into the streams that feed the lake. There are several thousand land owners directly bounding the lake, virtually all of whom discharge sewage into septic tank treatment systems installed on their lakefront property.