Oklahoma OK to test at farms, magistrate says

BY ROBERT J. SMITH

Posted on Thursday, June 1, 2006

Oklahoma got permission Wednesday to collect soil, water and litter samples from farms, but the state will have to share its samples with poultry companies with operations in Arkansas.

Both Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and poultry company attorneys claimed U. S. Magistrate Sam Joyner’s decision as a victory, saying Joyner had found a way to satisfy them.

“We will be in the field as soon as we can,” Edmondson said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “The corporate polluters have successfully delayed the samples for a few months, but they cannot delay forever.”

Al and Bev Saunders of Colcord, Okla., who raise chickens for Decatur-based Peterson Farms Inc., were unhappy with the ruling. A farm they own where poultry litter is spread to grow hay will be among those where soil, water and litter samples will be taken.

“I’m disappointed that Magistrate Joyner did not protect the Oklahoma poultry producers from this invasion on our homes, farms and property,” said Bev Saunders, a leader in the Poultry Partners group that represents 400 farm families in Oklahoma and Arkansas. “It just doesn’t feel like the justice system is working for the farmers, not in Oklahoma anyway.”

Last year, Edmondson sued eight poultry companies, blaming the companies for polluting the Illinois River watershed. The watershed’s upper reaches are in Washington and Benton counties. The 99-mile-long river crosses into Oklahoma south of Siloam Springs and then dumps into Lake Tenkiller south of Tahlequah.

Companies named in the suit are Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis; Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs; George’s Inc. of Springdale; Peterson Farms; Simmons Foods of Siloam Springs; Tyson Foods of Springdale; Willow Brook Foods of Springfield, Mo.; and Cal-Maine Foods Inc. of Jackson, Miss.

As part of the evidence col- lection for the lawsuit, Edmondson wanted Joyner’s permission to collect water, soil and litter samples from the Saunders farm and 13 other farms in eastern Oklahoma.

Joyner held a hearing May 17 on the matter.

Attorneys representing the companies said Joyner wisely made special efforts in his ruling to protect poultry farms against biosecurity risks such as bird diseases, required Edmondson to split the samples and forced Edmondson’s investigators to give notice before entering farm property to take samples.

Edmondson told Joyner at the May 17 hearing that he’d share samples with the companies, said Charlie Price, an Edmondson spokesman.

“The most important thing is we get to shadow them and split samples,” said John Elrod, a Fayetteville attorney who represents Simmons Foods. “Maybe the labs will agree, but the most important thing is that we not be left helpless with only his samples.

“ I’m not afraid of what we’re going to find. I just want it to be truthful.”

In his ruling, Joyner spelled out some procedures for the sampling.

Oklahoma must allow the poultry farmers or their representatives to accompany investigators as they collect samples. Saunders said she’s likely to take lots of photographs as the investigators make their rounds on her farm.

Joyner’s ruling requires Oklahoma to give farmers 72 hours ’ notice before taking soil, poultry litter and water samples.

Oklahoma also will have to give three hours’ notice before taking samples of rainwater on farms.

Price said he’s not certain when the sampling will begin. The attorney general’s office is working on a schedule for taking the samples, Price said.

“The goal is to get the samples quickly,” he said. “We have good reasons for wanting to conduct these tests. We’re not in position to say what we hope or expect to find, but we wouldn’t be going through all this if we didn’t think we had a reason.”