By Chad Previch
The Oklahoman

COLCORD - A company has begun collecting soil samples at farms in northeast Oklahoma as part of the state's environmental lawsuit against 14 poultry companies.

"This sure feels un-American," said Bev Saunders, whose farm will be tested in July. "It's unbelievable that a state government is granted permission to come on our personal property and just start taking anything and everything in their efforts to find something they can use in a lawsuit against the industry we contract with."

The testing started Monday at two different sites by Camp Dresser & McKee, said Ken Williams, a Tulsa-based attorney representing some of the subpoenaed farmers. Another site was tested Tuesday, and two other sites will be tested today.

Williams said he doesn't know when the results will be released. He said Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has refused to share the sampling until his laboratory has completed its analysis. Farmers are being forced to trust that the results won't be modified, Williams said.

"It's just a level of concealment that I have not seen in litigation before," he said.

Edmondson subpoenaed farmers to take soil and water samples of their land. He said chicken litter applied as fertilizer by Oklahoma farmers working for Arkansas companies is polluting water.

The subpoenas required landowners, many of whom raise chickens for companies sued by the attorney general, to allow investigators to collect soil and water samples, which include rainfall runoff and groundwater. Farmers say a lawsuit would kill their industry and put many Oklahomans out of business.

In June 2005, Edmondson sued 14 poultry companies he said were polluting state watersheds. Charlie Price, Edmondson's spokesman, said collectors are going by the judge's orders.

Williams said testing runs from 8 a.m. to dark. It's unclear when the sampling will conclude.