Negotiations broke down Thursday between Oklahoma
Attorney General Drew Edmondson and eight poultry
companies he’s sued over pollution in Oklahoma’s
scenic rivers.

That means Edmondson will proceed today with a federal
lawsuit he filed against the companies June 13. He
said he’d held off serving official summons for the
lawsuit as a show of good faith in the negotiations.

Edmondson’s lawsuit claims the eight companies, which
all have operations in Arkansas, contribute to river
pollution by allowing growers to use poultry waste as
fertilizer after it’s cleared from poultry houses.
Phosphorus in the waste that’s not used by plants can
leach into streams and fuel algae growth.

Edmondson said his office will file a motion in
federal court in Tulsa for a preliminary injunction to
block the land application of poultry waste. Among the
scenic rivers Edmondson is trying to protect is the
Illinois, which drains large sections of Benton and
Washington counties in Arkansas. "We will ask the
court to suspend all land application while it
determines what the appropriate standard will be," he
said.

In a statement, the poultry companies blamed the
failure of mediation on Edmondson’s demands, which
they said would destroy chicken farming. "Spending
millions more on lawyers is not going to improve water
quality, but it may well serve a devastating blow to
the farming economy of Oklahoma," said Janet
Wilkerson, a Peterson Farms Inc. vice president and
spokesman for the companies.

Wilkerson said the poultry companies voluntarily
proposed "a broad, long-term plan to provide poultry
farmers a number of options and other measures that
could be implemented in all of the scenic river
watersheds to eliminate any concerns over poultry
farming, while protecting the state’s economy."

Edmondson filed the federal lawsuit four days after
meeting with representatives of the companies June
7-9. The two sides met again last month but reached no
agreement.

The companies involved in the negotiations were
Aviagen Inc. of Huntsville, Ala.; Cargill Inc. of
Minneapolis; Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs;
George’s Inc. of Springdale; Peterson Farms Inc. of
Decatur; Simmons Foods Inc. of Siloam Springs; Tyson
Foods Inc. of Springdale and Willow Brook Foods of
Springfield, Mo.

Oklahoma established a phosphorus limit in 2002 in six
scenic rivers, including the Illinois River. Four of
the six streams Oklahoma named have headwaters in
Arkansas.

Farmers on both sides of the state line blame
Edmondson for the breakdown in the talks, although
they said they had no direct knowledge of the
negotiations. "It’s a marriage we have," said Keith
Morgan, who owns a farm near Kansas, Okla., and heads
a farmers group called Poultry Partners Inc. "Without
the companies, I’ve got a million dollars’ worth of
barns that are absolutely worthless."

Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton, who raises
chickens for Simmons Foods, said he never believed the
negotiations with Edmondson could stop a lawsuit.
"It’s about money and it’s always been about money,"
Hunton said. "He’s got pure ice water in his veins."

Edmondson said the Illinois River must be protected
because it’s a popular destination for canoeists and
other tourists. "While I have a concern about the
farmers, it’s got to be outweighed by the concern for
the natural resources and all the commerce associated
with those natural resources," Edmondson said. To
contact this reporter: rsmith@arkansasonline.com