Cattlemen’s groups are upset about a federal judge’s rejection of a settlement between Oklahoma and poultry companies in a long-running lawsuit over phosphorus pollution in the Illinois River Watershed.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell declined to approve settlements between the state and Tyson Foods and three other firms, after finding they were inadequate to address the problem of land application of poultry waste.
“The proposed consent judgments do not limit the application of poultry waste to reduce phosphorus runoff into the waters” of the Illinois River Watershed, Frizzell wrote in his order.
In a statement, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Gene Copenhaver and Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association President Ford Drummond said “the ripple effect of this decision will reach far beyond the gates of Oklahoma broiler operations. Not only does this decision deal a death blow to poultry farmers across the state, but will severely impact all of Oklahoma agriculture, and any livestock operation that manages manure.”
In addition, the proposed agreements aren’t long enough. “Based on testimony by Soil Scientist and Geomorphologist Gregory Scott that ‘following cessation of land application, it would take up to thirty years of hay production and removal to remove legacy phosphorous placed in the soil up to a [Soil Test Phosphorus] of 300,’ this court concluded that a thirty-year period of oversight by a special master is warranted,” Frizzell said.
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But the proposed consent judgments “would expire in only ten years with respect to Cargill and Peterson [Farms] and would expire in only seven years with respect to George’s and Tyson,” the judge said. He added that the monetary relief fund as proposed was insufficient.
Frizzell had issued a judgment in December that included a 30-year term and three main forms of relief: remediation, a prohibition on land application of poultry waste “at any rate that would cause STP to exceed 120 lbs./acre,” and civil penalties.
The separate settlements were between Oklahoma and four of the companies the state had sued – Tyson, George’s, Peterson Farms and Cargill. The judge called the proposed structure of the consent judgment “unworkable,” noting that defendants Cal-Maine and Simmons had not reached settlement agreements.
“The proposed consent judgments would fail to adequately fund the duties of the special master contemplated by those agreements,” Frizzell said in his order. “Nor would the special master be adequately equipped to ensure the settling defendants’ compliance with the Litter Removal Commitments, as the proposed consent judgments include no staffing or administrative provisions.”
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