AG Drew Edmondson, poultry companies meet again

Friday, December 10th 2004, 5:19 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The attorney general and six poultry companies met again Friday amid complaints the negotiators were leaving out family farmers from their talks over chicken waste in northeast Oklahoma.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson and representatives of the six companies met in Tulsa for the second straight day to discuss the effects chicken waste has on rivers in the area.

Talks are expected to continue over the next several weeks.

If the negotiations fail, Edmondson says he will sue the poultry companies to get them to reduce the waste's impact.

The companies include Peterson Farms, Cargill, George's, Tyson Foods, OK Foods and Simmons Foods.

Waste from the huge chicken farms in northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas is rich in phosphorous, which promotes algae growth in rivers and lakes.