Editorial: Talks open on poultry litter issue

OKLAHOMA - Talks have started again between Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson and nine poultry producers over water-quality issues that reportedly have fouled lakes and streams to the point that the attorney general had threatened to sue the companies if they didn’t stop polluting the eastern Oklahoma watershed.

Let us hope the frank discussions can forge an agreement that will protect water quality in eastern Oklahoma without financially damaging the industry. That may be difficult.

When Edmondson got tough earlier in the year, the poultry industry’s friends in the Legislature began pushing for a bill that would require Oklahoma’s attorney general to get approval from the governor or lawmakers before filing litigation on behalf of the state.

That was an absurd idea that drew adverse national attention, and it didn’t fly very far.

Source: joplinglobe.com

13 June 2005