Oklahoma brought a pollution lawsuit in 2005 against the Arkansas poultry industry, suggesting the threat of legal action may have spurred the companies to do better at policing themselves.
”The water quality is getting better, and this year, especially, we had very little algae,” said Archie ”Trey” Peyton III, 35, a former environmental consultant.
”There’s got to be a reason for that, which to me it follows that the last two years that most of the poultry litter in this region has been trucked out. But it looks to me like that’s making an impact on the river,” Peyton said.
But Oklahoma says the industry needs to do more, and its closely watched case against 11 companies — including food giants Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. — goes to trial Thursday.
It’s been a long-standing practice among poultry farmers in the Illinois River watershed to spread their chickens’ droppings on their fields. But as big business took over the production of broilers, the amount of waste being spread on local fields ballooned — to an estimated 345,000 tons annually in recent years, according to Oklahoma.
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