After six and a half days on the stand, J. Berton Fisher concluded his testimony in the on-going poultry litter litigation. For the Tulsa World article by David Harper, click here. The poultry companies’ attorneys finished up their cross-examination Wednesday morning. On cross, “Fisher repeated his assertion that the chemical composition of poultry waste — including its high concentrations of phosphorus, copper, zinc and arsenic — is distinct from that of cattle waste in the area.” Also according to the article, “[d]efense attorneys tried to establish on cross examination that Fisher's emphasis on those four substances as a sort of "fingerprint" of poultry waste has not been replicated to any extent by other scientists.”
After Fisher left the stand, Oklahoma next called Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry (ODAFF) Deputy General Counsel Teena Gunter. According to the article, “[s]he testified about that department's role in the regulation of poultry operators in the state since the late 1990s and the rules they are supposed to follow when dealing with poultry waste.” The AP’s Justin Juozapavicius reported that “Gunter described a state agency that seemed overwhelmed and understaffed, with only two poultry inspectors responsible for dozens of chicken houses in the 1 million-acre Illinois River watershed, which spans parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas.”
On cross-examination, Tyson’s attorneys to a 1998 Oklahoma attorney general’s opinion that gives the ODAFF the authority to go to a state district court “and get an order to stop practices it believed were violating water quality standards.” Gunter admitted on the stand the ODAFF had brought no actions to limit litter application in the watershed.
To view the Associated Press article, click here.
To view the Oklahoma Attorney General’s opinion, click here.
Posted: 10/22/09
