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Tyson, others, lose Oklahoma lawsuit over poultry pollution
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The Illinois River as seen from Goat's Bluffat the J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve, July 18, 2019. The world's largest poultry producer is among nearly a dozen poultry companies that face a March 17th deadline to reach agreement with the state of Oklahoma on how to clean a polluted watershed. A federal judge on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023 ruled that Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and others are responsible for pollution of the Illinois River Watershed by disposing of chicken litter that leached into the river. - photo by Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP
The world's largest poultry producer, Tyson Foods, is among nearly a dozen poultry companies that have less than two months to reach agreement with the state of Oklahoma on how to clean a watershed polluted by chicken litter. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in Tulsa ruled Wednesday that Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and other companies polluted the Illinois River, 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 companies and the state have until March 17 to present an agreement on how to remedy the pollution's effects, which includes low oxygen levels in the river, algae growth and damage to the fish population.