By John Sutter
In a much-delayed decision, a federal judge on Monday denied the state of Oklahoma’s request for poultry companies to stop spreading manure because it could degrade water quality and put the public in danger.
That ruling does not necessarily affect Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s case against poultry companies. Edmondson filed a lawsuit in 2005 and the trial is expected to begin next year.
Still, the ruling — which came after hearings in March –is not sitting well with environmentalists. Poultry groups applauded the decision.
Read more in this story by Jim Stafford.
Poultry waste is thought to be a problem because it is spread on land in such large quantities. Like other fecal matter, it can run into rivers, where it contributes to processes that sap the water of oxygen. That can kill aquatic life, and bacteria from the feces can make people who swim in the rivers ill.
In his ruling, Judge Gregory K. Frizzell says people, cattle and septic tanks may also contribute to pollution problems. The state did not prove that water quality and public health are in jeopardy because of chicken poop specifically, he wrote.
The ruling follows, but was not related to, a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which calls for more monitoring of concentrated animal farms, like the chicken farms in northeast Oklahoma and Arkansas. Based on figures from that report and from Oklahoma City, chickens in two counties on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border produce more fecal waste per year — 471,000 tons — than all of the people in Oklahoma City.