Poultry Companies Given Extension to Plan Cleanup of Oklahoma Watershed Pollution

A federal judge has granted an extension of approximately three months for nearly a dozen poultry companies to work with the state of Oklahoma to clean and protect the Illinois River watershed, after it was ruled in January that poultry litter from those processors had polluted the waterway.

March 17 had been the original deadline set by the judge for the poultry companies to work with the state on a plan to clean and maintain the river. Now, the state and the companies have until June 9 to submit a joint status report. The extension reportedly was requested by both sides, and Gentner Drummond, attorney general for Oklahoma, told The Associated Press that “lengthy and productive discussions” had occurred to this point.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2005, claimed the poultry companies polluted the Illinois River, caused a public nuisance and trespassed by spreading the litter, which then leached into the river’s watershed. A federal judge sided with the state in a January 2023 ruling.

Companies named in the lawsuit included Tyson Foods, Cargill, Cal-Maine Foods, Cobb-Vantress, George’s, Peterson Farms and Simmons Foods — as well as various poultry subsidiaries of several of those companies.