May 4, 2007

 

Arkansas unlikely to appeal Oklahoma poultry lawsuit decision

 

 

Arkansas' attorney general does not expect to appeal a federal judge's ruling Wednesday (May 2) that bars the state from intervening in Oklahoma's lawsuit against the poultry industry.

 

US District Judge Gregory Frizzell said after a brief hearing Wednesday that, in disputes between states, "exclusive jurisdiction lies with the Supreme Court".

 

Frizzell said the US Supreme Court could take up the issue through the regular appeal process.

 

"To a certain extent, we are trying to see this thing through a crystal ball," he said.

 

Mike Beebe, the former Arkansas attorney general and present Arkansas governor, and the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission sought in May 2006 to intervene in the lawsuit after the US Supreme Court rejected the state's request to dismiss the filing.

 

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said both courts were correct in rejecting Arkansas' requests.

 

"The parties in this lawsuit are the state of Oklahoma and the poultry companies, who we allege are polluting our waters with their waste," Edmondson said in a statement released after the hearing. "We did not sue Arkansas and we did not sue one single farmer."

 

Oklahoma officials had contended that Arkansas' request was a "blatant request to curry favour with the powerful Arkansas poultry industry".

 

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who attended the hearing, said his state could challenge the ruling, "but I don't anticipate there will be an appeal".

 

Instead, the state could file friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, McDaniel said.

 

"We felt the state of Arkansas had a specific point of view to bring to the case," he said.

 

Arkansas' 2006 court filing called Oklahoma's actions an "unconstitutional and misconceived effort to control Arkansas by lawsuit," and added that it would "have a profound negative effect on the agricultural economy of Arkansas, reduce the tax revenues collected by Arkansas, and severely burden interstate commerce".

 

Edmondson sued 13 poultry companies in 2005, alleging they are legally responsible for the handling and disposal of poultry waste that has damaged portions of the Illinois River watershed in Oklahoma.