Chicken Litter Lawsuit Court Date Looming

Thursday, July 27th 2006, 6:25 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Poultry industry representatives are asking a judge to force Attorney General Drew Edmondson to share the data he used to file a pollution lawsuit against poultry companies.

Lawyers filed the request to see data showing exactly how much damage Edmondson believes poultry companies did to eastern Oklahoma water quality. The attorneys also want to find out how much damage may come from overworked municipal sewage systems, bad septic tanks and other sources.

Edmondson sued in 2005, alleging that litter from poultry operations led to too much fertilizer on fields and runoff of nutrients. The suit alleges that subsequent nutrient loading of nitrogen and phosphorus led to degradation of the Illinois River -- one of the state's scenic rivers.

If successful, Edmondson's lawsuit would hold more than a dozen poultry firms liable for millions of dollars in damages.