A federal judge is giving Oklahoma and nearly a dozen poultry companies, including the world’s largest poultry producer, Tyson Foods, an additional 90 days to reach an agreement on plans to clean a watershed polluted by chicken litter.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell on Friday scheduled a June 16 status conference in Tulsa, saying both sides requested the extension. The state and the poultry companies are to submit a joint status report by June 9.
Frizzell ruled in January that Arkansas-based Tyson, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and other companies polluted the Illinois River; that they caused a public nuisance and trespassed by spreading the litter, or manure, on land in eastern Oklahoma; and that it then leached into the river’s watershed. The ruling came from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Oklahoma.
“We have had lengthy and productive discussions with the poultry companies about a resolution,” state Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.