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Injunction weighed in poultry litter suit
Arkansas Democrat Gazette story, published February 17, 2007 and written by Rob Smith. TULSA — Oklahoma attorneys revealed Thursday they’ve discussed a federal court injunction that could affect farming operations in the Illinois River watershed. The comment by Louis Bullock of Tulsa, who’s working for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson on the federal lawsuit against eight poultry companies with operations in Arkansas, came near the end of Thursday’s six-hour federal court hearing. Scott McDaniel, a Tulsa attorney who represents Decatur-based Peterson Farms, asked Bullock and federal Magistrate Judge Sam Joyner how a preliminary injunction would be dealt with if it’s filed.
Injunction weighed in poultry litter suit
Posted on Friday, February 16, 2007
TULSA — Oklahoma attorneys revealed Thursday they’ve discussed a federal court injunction that could affect farming operations in the Illinois River watershed.
The comment by Louis Bullock of Tulsa, who’s working for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson on the federal lawsuit against eight poultry companies with operations in Arkansas, came near the end of Thursday’s six-hour federal court hearing.
Scott McDaniel, a Tulsa attorney who represents Decatur-based Peterson Farms, asked Bullock and federal Magistrate Judge Sam Joyner how a preliminary injunction would be dealt with if it’s filed.
Joyner said he wouldn’t deal with the injunction until one is filed. Attorneys for the poultry companies said they fear one is likely and that it would limit how much poultry litter can be spread on farms to fertilize crops.
“If that threat exists, it’s reasonable to ask them to take a position,” McDaniel told Joyner. “We need to know if a preliminary injunction is planned.”
Bullock told Joyner the state hasn’t decided what an injunction would include. The state’s federal court filing describes poultry litter as “hazardous waste” and blames the crop nutrient for polluting Oklahoma rivers.
“We’ve got an imminent threat that needs to be handled here,” Bullock told Joyner. “It is our duty to accomplish that.”
After the hearing, McDaniel said he’s asked attorneys working for Edmondson’s office if the injunction would request that the court order changes to the way farming is done in the watershed.
The state has refused to answer the question, McDaniel said.
Half of the watershed’s 1 million acres is in Arkansas. Portions of Benton and Washington counties are in the watershed.
In a telephone interview, Emily Lang, a spokesman for Edmondson’s office, wouldn’t offer details about the potential injunction.
“We haven’t even filed it yet,” Lang said. “It’s too early to say what it would include.”
Bullock mentioned the possibility of an injunction during a meeting of attorneys about three weeks ago, said John Elrod, an attorney representing defendant Simmons Foods of Siloam Springs. Elrod said a hearing dealing with an injunction would take more than two weeks.
McDaniel told Joyner that dealing with an injunction will be a “major undertaking” for the companies, and he wanted to know what’s planned by the state.
It could change the scheduling of the entire lawsuit as poultry companies’ attorneys would quickly shift their attention to dealing with the preliminary injunction and away from other aspects of the federal case that’s expected to go to trial in 2008, McDaniel said.