Curtis Killman
A judge ruled in favor of the state of Oklahoma on Wednesday, nearly 18 years after the state filed a lawsuit blaming the poultry industry for pollution in the Illinois River watershed.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell agreed with arguments for the state on four claims it leveled against various poultry companies that operated within the watershed.
“The court concludes all defendants, by their conduct, have unreasonably interfered with the public’s right to the use and enjoyment of the waters of the IRW (Illinois River watershed) in Oklahoma,” Frizzell wrote in his Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law report.
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The state established that "a significant cause of the excess phosphorus in the waters of the IRW is the land application of litter from defendants’ poultry,” Frizzell wrote. Poultry waste is commonly referred to as litter.