Muskogee Phoenix

Published May 09, 2008

AG claims wins in lawsuit


By D.E. Smoot
Phoenix Staff Writer

TAHLEQUAH — While a federal judge mulls a request to stop the application of poultry wastes to land within the Illinois River watershed, Oklahoma’s top lawyer declared two victories this week.

One was U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell’s decision to reject several requests submitted by special interest groups to file friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the poultry industry. Frizzell permitted briefs submitted by the state of Arkansas, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and Poultry Partners Inc.

The second victory, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said, was Frizzell’s decision to admit into the record testimony from two expert witnesses who testified on behalf of the state. That evidence was presented in support of the state’s request to secure a temporary order halting the application of poultry waste to land within the Illinois River watershed.

“This was a critical decision,” Edmondson said Thursday during an awards banquet sponsored by Save the Illinois River Inc. “What they (the witnesses) do is put an end to the lie of the poultry industry’s argument that it’s not us, it’s somebody else.”

Russ Florence, a spokesman for the poultry companies represented in the lawsuit, downplayed Frizzell’s ruling, saying “the order isn't anything different than what happened in court.”

“Judge Frizzell asked the defense in court whether he is required to refuse to even listen to Harwood and Olson or whether he can listen to them and then decide whether he believes them or not,” Florence said Friday. “The attorneys for the poultry companies said it's the latter — you can listen to them, but then (you) must decide what weight, if any, to give to their testimony.”

Florence said this week's order just repeats that discussion and changes nothing.

Edmondson said the defendants named in the clean water lawsuit filed during the summer of 2005 in the U.S. District Court of Northern Oklahoma blame cattle production and population growth for the degradation of the water quality within the Illinois River watershed.

The research of Valerie Harwood and Roger Olson, Edmondson said, undermines the poultry integrators’ “it’s them, not us” defense. Edmondson said Harwood and Olson’s research traces the bacteria found in northeastern Oklahoma streams and lakes to the poultry houses that dot the Illinois River watershed’s landscape and the pastures upon which poultry litter is applied as fertilizer.

Harwood and Olson have scientific proof of “what we have believed almost inherently by watching what has happened over the past several decades,” Edmondson said. “The change that we know has happened ... is the geometric increase in poultry production within the Illinois River watershed.”

Edmondson, who was honored Thursday by STIR for his efforts to protect the Illinois River and Lake Tenkiller, compared the state’s protracted battle with Arkansas interests over the quality of northeastern Oklahoma’s water resources with the famed Battle of Agincourt.

The third-century battle has been touted as one of the greatest victories in the history of the English military. An emotional Edmondson choked back tears as he commended the work of his father, the late Ed Edmondson, and others who have fought throughout the years to protect the Illinois River.

“So, you are my brothers” in arms, Edmondson said, drawing from the text of Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, one that is said to have been delivered the night before the famous battle between English and French troops. “We fight this fight together, we have fought it for years. We are continuing to fight it, and when it’s over ... we will show our scars, and these we won to protect the Illinois River.”

Frizzell is expected to rule on Edmondson’s request for a temporary injunction during the coming weeks.

Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email