The Morning News

Local News for Northwest Arkansas

Poultry Companies Want Record of Negotiation Opened

By John L. Moore
The Morning News

Throw open the shutters and let the light shine in, said a representative of the poultry companies facing a lawsuit from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson over pollution in the Illinois River watershed.

Edmondson filed the lawsuit in June 2005 against 14 poultry companies for poultry litter applied to fields in the region. Edmondson claims the runoff from the fields is polluting the Illinois River, Lake Tenkiller and other scenic streams in eastern Oklahoma.

On Thursday, Edmondson accused the poultry industries of negotiating in bad faith during those past meetings and forcing his hand with the lawsuit.

Edmondson has chosen to attack the companies with unfounded claims about what happened during settlement talks held in the month’s leading up the lawsuit’s filing, said Janet Wilkerson, a spokeswoman for the companies.

He “has chosen to breach a confidentiality agreement made during the mediation with the industry,” Wilkerson said. “Therefore, the poultry companies are completely willing to release information about what [Attorney] General Edmondson and his contingent fee lawyers demanded and what the companies offered, and we call on [Attorney] General Edmondson to join with us in this full disclosure.”

Edmondson said, “the poultry companies are fully aware you cannot have meaningful negotiations in a public forum, and this is simply another effort on their part to avoid returning to the bargaining table. That being said, the companies make an interesting offer. We will discuss this proposal and respond in due course.”

Wilkerson said the public should see what they offered and what Edmondson rejected.

“If the public is granted access to this information, they will see that there is no support for Edmondson’s claim that the companies did not negotiate in good faith and that he bent over backwards to avoid litigation and the poultry industry insisted on it.” Wilkerson said. “Put simply, his statements are absolutely not true.”

Edmondson said, “Ms Wilkerson accuses me of violating the confidentiality agreement by saying the ‘companies did not negotiate in good faith’ and that the state ‘bent over backwards to avoid litigation and the poultry industry insisted on it,” Edmdonson said Friday afternoon. “I have not violated the confidentiality agreement, but in deference to Ms. Wilkerson’s argument, the only way that these statements could possibly breach the agreement is if they are true. I appreciate Ms. Wilkerson’s admission as to these facts.”