Arkansas agrees to move poultry litter

<br>(Springdale-AP) -- Arkansas officials say they will move about 80-thousand tons of poultry litter out of the Illinois River watershed to help satisfy Oklahoma's goal of reducing phosphorus in the

Wednesday, October 23rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Springdale-AP) -- Arkansas officials say they will move about 80-thousand tons of poultry litter out of the Illinois River watershed to help satisfy Oklahoma's goal of reducing phosphorus in the river.

J-D- Strong, a spokesman for Oklahoma Secretary of Environment Brian Griffin, said his office has yet to evaluate Arkansas' plan.

Before yesterday's announcement of the move, Arkansans hadn't indicated exactly how much phosphorus they believe their plan will keep out of Oklahoma's scenic rivers.

Arkansas must still respond to Oklahoma's letter last week that spelled out other actions Oklahoma believes Arkansas should take to reduce phosphorus.

Earlier this year, Oklahoma instituted a phosphorus standard of point-037 parts per million on the state's scenic rivers.

Because the watershed for those rivers stretches into Arkansas, that state would be required to meet the phosphorus standard.

An excess of phosphorus promotes algae growth and oxygen depletion in the water. Arkansas officials have called Oklahoma's phosphorus standards unreasonable and unreachable.