BY ROBERT J. SMITH

Posted on Friday, September 7, 2007

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/200722/

Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Arkansas poultry companies is a misuse of the federal Superfund law, a Missouri senator said Thursday.

U. S. Sen. Christopher Bond made his comments during an appearance by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson in Washington before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Edmondson, who filed the suit against the companies, testified on the human health and water quality impacts of large confined animal feeding operations.

“What I do not support are efforts by some in Congress and certain groups to misuse our laws in ways never intended, such as applying our Superfund law intended for toxic industrial waste pollution instead to farmers and agriculture,” said Bond, a Republican and member of the committee.

“The results of such a strategy seen here today in Oklahoma’s lawsuit is litigation gridlock with endless court motions and no resolution. That does not improve the environment.”

Edmondson said he felt Bond had read the Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s “script” on what to say about the federal lawsuit he filed in 2005 against Springdale-based Tyson Foods and seven other poultry companies with operations in Arkansas.

“I heard it from the farm bureau, and now I’ve heard it in Washington from the farm bureau,” Edmondson said in a telephone interview. “The bottom line is the poultry industry forced us to proceed with the lawsuit.”

Oklahoma’s lawsuit accuses poultry companies of polluting the Illinois River watershed with poultry litter spread on farm fields to fertilize crops and of violating the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, also known as Superfund.

The Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works is reviewing legislation introduced earlier this year by Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N. M., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that’s been dubbed the Agriculture Protection and Prosperity Act. It would exempt large-scale poultry and beef farms from regulations in the Superfund Act, a law used to force the cleanup of toxic chemical sites.

In his comments to Senate committee members, Edmondson repeated many of his messages about the environmental damage that he says is caused by poultry litter — manure-laden rice hulls or wood chips — that is spread on fields after it’s been removed from poultry houses.

The attorney general, 60, told committee members that litter contains phosphorus and chemicals such as zinc and arsenic, which he says harm water quality in the Illinois River watershed. The watershed includes portions of Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman, told Edmondson she’s opposed to the exemption for animal waste.

“This [lawsuit ] is a big step,” Boxer told Edmondson. “You are going up against a lot of giants. What’s the straw that broke the camel’s back ?”

Edmondson told her he began negotiating in November 2001 with the poultry companies about poultry litter, and in 2003 saw the city of Tulsa settle its lawsuit against poultry companies and the city of Decatur over poultry litter’s use in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed. Poultry companies reduced poultry litter use in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed by 70 percent, but continued to “spread large amount of litter in the Illinois River watershed,” Edmondson said.

“The straw, if there was one, was simply a loss of patience,” Edmondson told Boxer. “Every month that we negotiated [about the Illinois River watershed ] was another month with litter being applied to the land.”

A poultry industry spokesman pointed out that Edmondson didn’t mention how Arkansas poultry companies formed a nonprofit corporation called BMPs Inc. in 2003. Its purpose is to haul poultry litter to farms outside the Illinois and Eucha-Spavinaw watersheds.

In 2005, those poultry companies gave a $ 1. 1 million gift to the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, the agency charged with protecting the Illinois River and the small streams near it. The money was to stabilize stream banks, control erosion and build restrooms in camping areas near the river.

The companies also promised to spend $ 5 million to remove 202, 000 tons of poultry litter from the Illinois River watershed, the spokesman said.

Senate hears poultry lawsuit defended

BY ROBERT J. SMITH

Posted on Friday, September 7, 2007

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/200722/

Oklahoma’s lawsuit against Arkansas poultry companies is a misuse of the federal Superfund law, a Missouri senator said Thursday.

U. S. Sen. Christopher Bond made his comments during an appearance by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson in Washington before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Edmondson, who filed the suit against the companies, testified on the human health and water quality impacts of large confined animal feeding operations.

“What I do not support are efforts by some in Congress and certain groups to misuse our laws in ways never intended, such as applying our Superfund law intended for toxic industrial waste pollution instead to farmers and agriculture,” said Bond, a Republican and member of the committee.

“The results of such a strategy seen here today in Oklahoma’s lawsuit is litigation gridlock with endless court motions and no resolution. That does not improve the environment.”

Edmondson said he felt Bond had read the Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s “script” on what to say about the federal lawsuit he filed in 2005 against Springdale-based Tyson Foods and seven other poultry companies with operations in Arkansas.

“I heard it from the farm bureau, and now I’ve heard it in Washington from the farm bureau,” Edmondson said in a telephone interview. “The bottom line is the poultry industry forced us to proceed with the lawsuit.”

Oklahoma’s lawsuit accuses poultry companies of polluting the Illinois River watershed with poultry litter spread on farm fields to fertilize crops and of violating the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, also known as Superfund.

The Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works is reviewing legislation introduced earlier this year by Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N. M., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that’s been dubbed the Agriculture Protection and Prosperity Act. It would exempt large-scale poultry and beef farms from regulations in the Superfund Act, a law used to force the cleanup of toxic chemical sites.

In his comments to Senate committee members, Edmondson repeated many of his messages about the environmental damage that he says is caused by poultry litter — manure-laden rice hulls or wood chips — that is spread on fields after it’s been removed from poultry houses.

The attorney general, 60, told committee members that litter contains phosphorus and chemicals such as zinc and arsenic, which he says harm water quality in the Illinois River watershed. The watershed includes portions of Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman, told Edmondson she’s opposed to the exemption for animal waste.

“This [lawsuit ] is a big step,” Boxer told Edmondson. “You are going up against a lot of giants. What’s the straw that broke the camel’s back ?”

Edmondson told her he began negotiating in November 2001 with the poultry companies about poultry litter, and in 2003 saw the city of Tulsa settle its lawsuit against poultry companies and the city of Decatur over poultry litter’s use in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed. Poultry companies reduced poultry litter use in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed by 70 percent, but continued to “spread large amount of litter in the Illinois River watershed,” Edmondson said.

“The straw, if there was one, was simply a loss of patience,” Edmondson told Boxer. “Every month that we negotiated [about the Illinois River watershed ] was another month with litter being applied to the land.”

A poultry industry spokesman pointed out that Edmondson didn’t mention how Arkansas poultry companies formed a nonprofit corporation called BMPs Inc. in 2003. Its purpose is to haul poultry litter to farms outside the Illinois and Eucha-Spavinaw watersheds.

In 2005, those poultry companies gave a $ 1. 1 million gift to the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, the agency charged with protecting the Illinois River and the small streams near it. The money was to stabilize stream banks, control erosion and build restrooms in camping areas near the river.

The companies also promised to spend $ 5 million to remove 202, 000 tons of poultry litter from the Illinois River watershed, the spokesman said.