First American Scientific Corp. (fka FASC)

[Hongcouver]

TRCPA,

In one state at least, poultry companies seem to have trouble making up their minds if they are responsible or not..............there is a fierce battle taking place in Oklahoma, and the poultry industry has come up against one tough hombre.....................Attorney General Drew Edmondson. See this post and the next:


http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcquality/4poulcomp12.html

Poultry companies agree to clean up chicken litter
December 2004
U.S. Water News Online

TULSA, Okla. -- Poultry companies, including Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., have agreed to pick up excess chicken litter from northeastern Oklahoma watersheds where the material has been blamed for taste and odor problems in drinking water.

The agreement was announced by Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who plans to continue the process of preparing a lawsuit against processors. Edmondson's office retained outside legal counsel in July.

"When the petition is ready, we will file it," Edmondson said. "We will do discovery. We will proceed as if we are litigating. We are perfectly willing to negotiate during that process in hopes negotiations will make litigation unnecessary."

Edmondson's office has been considering litigation to address pollution concerns surrounding phosphorus-rich chicken waste, which promotes algae blooms in rivers and lakes.

The blooms take oxygen from the water and choke aquatic life. They also can create taste and odor problems in drinking water.

The poultry companies involved include Tyson Foods, Peterson Farms, Simmons Foods, George's and Cargill.

The industry has agreed to "accept responsibility for the removal from the basins of all chicken litter which can't safely be land applied," Edmondson said.

The industry has also agreed to have the deal memorialized in a binding consent decree, the attorney general said.

Janet Wilkerson, a spokeswoman for the industry, said producers "are eager to sit down and talk through and negotiate with the attorney general. We look forward to the opportunity."

Edmondson has said he would seek monetary damages against poultry producers if he was forced to retain outside counsel. Monetary damages would pay the outside attorney fees and cover the cost of cleaning up streams and lakes, Edmondson said.

But Wilkerson said the concept of monetary damages "is relatively new" to the poultry producers.

"We are not aware of any damages that have been done," Wilkerson said. "We are not aware of any factual analysis that has been conducted that can determine damages."

She said poultry producers are just one part of the equation. Others include commercial fertilizers, septic tanks and the cattle industry.

"We firmly believe a lawsuit is not necessary, that we can sit down and talk through it and come up with a solution that will be a win-win for all."

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, which represents growers who provide the chickens to the producers, said it was unaware of the agreement. Growers have complained that they are stakeholders who have been left out of the negotiations.

Hongcouver