Phosphorus Fight Heats Up On Banks Of Illinois
Last updated Tuesday, August 29, 2006 11:08 PM CDT in News
By John L. Moore
The Morning News
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- Poultry companies hauled 52,262 tons of poultry litter out of the Illinois River watershed from September to Aug. 28, said Sheri Herron, the executive director of BMPs Inc.
Herron, who runs the industry-backed nonprofit company, spoke to a packed house of members of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, poultry company representatives, lawyers, farmers and environmentalists Tuesday night in a small meeting room in the offices of the commission on the banks of the Illinois River.
Some commissioners voiced support for the poultry companies' efforts, but Ed Brocksmith, a commissioner and founding member of Save The Illinois River Watershed, questioned the amount of federal grants and state subsidies that have been used to prop up the fledgling litter transport industry, which BMPs Inc. has grown in the past three years.
The commission is the principle state agency responsible for protecting and preserving Oklahoma's scenic rivers, including the Illinois. But the interest in the river's water quality and poultry litter for the past year has focused on a lawsuit from Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.
Edmondson sued 14 poultry companies in June 2005, accusing them of polluting the watershed with poultry litter applied on fields. Of primary interest is phosphorus. Excessive phosphorus in a watershed can lead to rampant algae growth, which degrades water quality.
Floyd Simmons, a cattle farmer in Christie, Okla., said he did not own one chicken, but supported the poultry farmers and was against the lawsuit filed by Edmondson.
Don Nowlin, a member of Save The Illinois River, said the poultry companies seemed to be making a sincere effort to reduce the amount of litter used in the river basin.
"But I question whether that would have happened without the lawsuit," Nowlin said.
Morril Harriman, president of The Poultry Federation, also spoke to the group on actions that poultry companies have taken in the past few years to start reducing the amount of chicken litter applied to fields in the area.
Harriman said that contrary to numbers used by Oklahoma state agencies, there are currently 1,694 poultry houses in the watershed.
Harriman outlined legislation approved in Arkansas in 2003 requiring nutrient management plans for farmers. He also noted that the poultry companies have contributed matching funds for BMPs Inc. and have also financially backed the Illinois River Watershed Partnership.
The partnership is working to get Oklahoma and Arkansas to file a joint request for an Environmental Protection Association Grant that could provide up to $1.1 million per year for five years to help with water quality efforts in the watershed.
Commissioner Gerald Hilsher, who worked on former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating's animal waste task force, said the task force had asked to work with poultry companies in 1997 on steps to reduce phosphorus in the watershed, but the companies rebuffed the task force's efforts.
"Why the hell didn't this start in 1997," Hilsher said. "It's too little too late."
Fast Fact:
Chicken Litter Leaving Watershed
60,311 tons of chicken litter, or 1.75 million pounds of phosphorus, have been hauled out of the Illinois River Watershed in the past three years.
Source: Sheri Herron, BMPs Inc.
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