Current:Home > ScamsPoultry companies ask judge to dismiss ruling that they polluted an Oklahoma watershed-InfoLens
Poultry companies ask judge to dismiss ruling that they polluted an Oklahoma watershed
View Date:2024-12-23 15:47:16
A group of poultry producers, including the world’s largest, have asked a federal judge to dismiss his ruling that they polluted an Oklahoma watershed.
Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and the others say in a motion filed Thursday that evidence in the case is now more than 13 years old.
“This case is constitutionally moot because the Court can no longer grant any effectual relief,” the companies argued in a filing with U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in Tulsa.
The filing said Oklahoma conservation officials have noted a steady decline in pollution. It credited improved wastewater treatment plants, state laws requiring poultry-litter management plans and fewer poultry farms as a result of growing metropolitan areas in northwest Arkansas.
A spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond did not immediately return a phone call for comment Saturday.
The attorney general’s office told the Tulsa World that “a resolution of this matter that is in the best interests of Oklahoma” is being sought.
Frizzell ruled in January that the companies were responsible for pollution of the Illinois River Watershed by disposing of chicken litter, or manure, that leached into the river.
The trial in the lawsuit that was filed in 2005 by the state of Oklahoma had ended in 2013 with no ruling for 10 years. In January, Frizzell issued his decision without addressing the reason for the decade-long delay.
“The Court’s findings and conclusions rest upon a record compiled in 2005–2009,” the poultry companies’ motion stated. “When this Court issued its findings and conclusions ... much of the record dated from the 1990s and early 2000s.”
Frizzell had ordered the poultry companies and the state to reach an agreement on how to remedy the effects of the pollution.
Attorneys for the companies and the state attorney general each said in Thursday filings that mediation had failed.
The other defendants named in the lawsuit are Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C., George’s Inc., George’s Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc. and Simmons Foods Inc.
veryGood! (113)
Related
- California voters reject proposed ban on forced prison labor in any form
- CES 2024 updates: Most interesting news and gadgets from tech’s big show
- Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry officially takes office, as GOP-dominated legislature elects new leaders
- How much snow did you get? Maps show total inches of snowfall accumulation from winter storm
- Kim Kardashian Says She's Raising Her and Kanye West's 4 Kids By Herself
- Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry officially takes office, as GOP-dominated legislature elects new leaders
- Stop annoying junk mail and group chats with these genius tech tips
- South Korea’s parliament endorses landmark legislation outlawing dog meat consumption
- Mike Tyson has lived a wild life. These 10 big moments have defined his career
- Explosion at Texas hotel injures 11 and scatters debris across downtown Fort Worth
Ranking
- A pregnant woman sues for the right to an abortion in challenge to Kentucky’s near-total ban
- His wife was dying. Here's how a nurse became a 'beacon of light'
- Busy Washington state legislative session kicks off with a focus on the housing crisis
- As more debris surfaces from Alaska Airlines' forced landing, an intact iPhone has been found
- Taylor Swift's Dad Scott Swift Photobombs Couples Pic With Travis Kelce
- Grizzlies star Ja Morant will have shoulder surgery, miss remainder of season
- 2 dead, 1 injured in fire at Port Houston
- Cable car brought down by fallen tree in Austrian skiing area, injuring 4 people on board
Recommendation
-
Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira set to be sentenced, could get up to 17 years in prison
-
Parents of Iowa teen who killed 1 and wounded 7 in shooting say they had ‘no inkling’ of his plan
-
Rays shortstop Wander Franco released from Dominican jail amid ongoing investigation
-
US fighter jets to fly over Bosnia in a sign of support to the country as Serbs call for secession
-
Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia Explains Why She’s Not Removing Tattoo of Ex Zach Bryan’s Lyrics
-
Love is in the Cart With This $111 Deal on a $349 Kate Spade Bag and Other 80% Discounts You’ll Adore
-
Indonesia temporarily grounds Boeing 737-9 Max jetliners after Alaska Airlines incident
-
Idaho governor sets school buildings, water infrastructure and transportation as top priorities