By John L. Moore
The Morning News

TULSA, Okla. -- Attorneys for poultry farmers and area poultry companies continued efforts in federal court Wednesday to block or limit Oklahoma's testing of more than 20 fields in the northeastern part of the state.

Ground monitoring wells with concrete pads will not be placed on the farms the state wants to test for pollution from poultry litter, said Louis Bullock, an attorney representing the state.

Bullock told Magistrate Judge Sam Joyner the taking of samples would be conducted to cause as few problems as possible for the farmers.

Instead of drilling test wells that would be monitored frequently, the state will use a device called a Geoprobe to punch small diameter holes in the ground deep enough to sample groundwater, Bullock said.

"I tell you we can do all the work we need to on a particular property for groundwater in a day," Bullock said.

Geoprobe is the registered name of a hydraulically powered percussion/probing machine designed specifically for use in the environmental industry, according to the Web site of Enviroequip, a company with headquarters in Australia.

Soil, poultry litter, groundwater and stormwater would all be collected from the farmers as possible evidence in a lawsuit Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed against 14 poultry companies in June alleging the companies are primarily responsible for pollution in the Illinois River.

Edmondson issued the subpoenas in April, but poultry growers and the companies objected to the tests, claiming the subpoenas were overly broad, vague, unduly burdensome and raised biosecurity concerns for the safety of the chickens.

Joyner did not issue a ruling on the subpoenas and efforts to block them Wednesday. He began the hearing by informing the state they would have to show the tests were relevant.

Earlier, Joyner had indicated the case was about chicken litter polluting the river and the testing was likely relevant.

But Michael Graves and Ken Williams, attorneys for the farmers, said drawing a conclusion that any pollution that might be in the Illinois River was caused by poultry litter spread on the farmers fields needs some scientific backing.

Graves said testing the river and then the streams and channels leading back up stream to find sources of pollution was the first step that should happen before any fields should be tested.

The state, however, is not suing any particular poultry farmer or landowner and trying to prove they polluted the river, Bullock said. They are suing poultry companies and claiming their actions over many years have polluted the river.

"It's important that discovery be as broad as the legitimate claims of the plaintiffs are," Bullock said.

Robert George, an attorney for Tyson Foods, and Bullock agreed most of the biosecurity procedures had been worked out between the two sides.

If the testing goes forward and the procedures discussed are approved, technicians and others traveling to the farms during the sampling will have to wait 72 hours before moving between a farm that contracts with one company and a farm that contracts with another company.

In the case of farmers contracting with Cobb-Vantress, a subsidiary of Tyson, the testers will have to wait seven days. Cobb-Vantress farms are genetic breeding programs that raise baby chickens that are sent out all over the region.

Bullock said the state will test for arsenic, zinc, copper, phosphorus, nitrogen and bacteria when they sample the farms.

Edmondson claims chicken litter is responsible for pollution in the watershed beyond the problem with excessive phosphorus that has been documented by numerous studies of the river.

Attorneys for the farmers and poultry companies said no studies have been performed indicating arsenic, copper or zinc levels in the river were above threshold limits for pollution.