Piling it on, deeper and deeper.

(Updated and Re-posted from OKPNS, March 5, 2008)

 
The lawyers are still arguing over just exactly who is the most qualified to determine how much chicken litter is officially “safe” for Oklahoma’s water, and who’s scientific findings constitute “proof” or “evidence.”

It makes me very sad that the attorneys on both sides of this issue are the ones who will benefit financially from this ongoing lawsuit, at the expense of the farmers. And yet, something needs to be done.

I was talking to my Mother about this whole mess with Drew Edmondson and the poultry companies, and she recalled growing up on ranch in what is now North Tulsa, along Flat Rock Creek. They had a few chickens…enough for the family, and to sell a few eggs now and then. Mom said even several decades ago, it was a nasty, dirty little creek. But even so, Grandpa was so careful not to get chicken litter in that water, or use it on the land near the water, because all of the old farmers knew it was toxic for the livestock and wild animals that drank the water, and for the fish, and for any people who swam there.

And now, they’re discussing how much of this is going into the water in terms of TONS?!?! Who cares if it’s 175 tons or 350 tons a year…we’re talking about TONS of chicken “litter” going into the water where fish live, where wild animals drink, where people swim…it’s even affecting the well water people drink in some places.

TONS. How can we think that’s ok? Amazing. And if they don’t think it’s harmful, then why don’t Arkansas poultry companies put it in their own water, and leave Oklahoma’s alone? (See the New York Times: THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Candidate’s Record; Arkansas Water Pollution Looms as a Campaign Issue)