Poultry companies ask judge to dismiss ruling that they polluted an Oklahoma watershed

By KEN MILLER
Associated Press

A group of poultry producers, including the world’s largest, are asking 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 the case is “constitutionally moot” because the evidence is now more than 13 years old. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in Tulsa ruled in January that the companies were responsible for pollution of the Illinois River Watershed by disposing of chicken litter that leached into the river. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2005 by the state of Oklahoma.