The Oklahoma attorney general and the Arkansas poultry companies his office successfully sued over pollution of the Illinois River requested a mediator Friday in their efforts to reach a settlement.
"The Parties have agreed to mediation before retired 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Reece Tacha and propose to mediate at a time in the near future that is convenient for the mediator and the parties," states a status report filed Friday by all parties in the case. The document gives no timeline of how long the mediation might take.
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell in Tulsa ruled against the 11 poultry companies that were sued by then-Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson in 2005. Frizzell didn't rule in the case until Jan. 18 of this year. His ruling found poultry litter from the farms supplying birds to those companies pollutes the Illinois River. He ordered the parties to negotiate on a settlement and give him a status report by Friday.
Tacha served on the federal appeals court in Denver from 1985 to 2011, including as chief judge from 2001 to 2008. She took a position as dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, Calif., upon her retirement from the federal bench, serving at the law school through 2016.
"The Parties request that the Court order mediation with the understanding that the parties will submit a status report within 14 days following the conclusion of the mediation," the status report states.
The Illinois River's headwaters lie in Northwest Arkansas.
"As late as the 1960s, its waters were crystal clear," Frizzell's ruling says of the river. In particular, phosphorus pollution from chicken litter used as fertilizer on poultry farms severely affected water quality in the river, Frizzell ruled. The judge's ruling found the poultry industry had taken major steps over the years to reduce pollution, but added more steps were needed.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond wants a special master, he said after a March 17 hearing in the case. Under federal law, a judge designates a special master to make sure court orders are followed. Any agreement with poultry companies to settle the lawsuit will require long-term supervision, he said at the time.
The most conservative estimate given in the trial of the amount of chicken litter produced by the defendants' operations was 354,000 tons in 2009. Litter consists of waste and the wood shavings or rice hulls spread on the floors of chicken houses to absorb that waste.
Relief sought in the lawsuit includes curtailing runoff from litter. The relief could include restrictions on how much litter is used and how it can be applied in the watershed.
Recommendations made by expert witnesses in the trial include removing all poultry litter outside the watershed, buffer strips to control runoff, excavation of phosphorus-laden soil, applying alum to fields to bind phosphorus there, stream bank stabilization and constructing wetlands.