Outgoing Oklahoma AG: No Quick Resolution to Poultry Pollution Case

If Oklahoma’s new attorney general or governor decide to drop a lawsuit accusing poultry companies of pollution, the outgoing attorney general predicts the case will be picked up by other interested parties.

Outgoing Attorney General Drew Edmondson says he’s confident the litigation won’t be resolved quickly. And he says if the matter is abandoned the case could be advanced by towns, landowners, tribal entities, canoe operators or others.

Edmondson sued the Arkansas companies that include Tyson Foods and Cargill Inc. in 2005. The lawsuit claims chicken manure from their facilities polluted the 1-million-acre Illinois River watershed in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Oklahoma has spent millions of dollars arguing the case, and it is awaiting a judge’s ruling.

The case is being monitored by other states that are considering challenges to the poultry industry.

Oklahoma Attorney General-elect Scott Pruitt, a Republican, has said once he takes office he will review whether the state should press on with a lawsuit accusing the industry widespread pollution. He said he will base his decision “on the merits of the case.”

The Associated Press reported that Pruitt accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from poultry industry employees. State records show that employees from several of the Arkansas poultry companies named in the suit gave at least $15,000 to Pruitt’s campaign.