Arkansas asked the Supreme Court on Thursday for permission to sue Oklahoma, saying its neighbor is improperly trying to impose water standards across state lines.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas asked the Supreme Court on Thursday for permission to sue Oklahoma, saying its neighbor is improperly trying to impose water standards across state lines.
Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe told the court that the standards would harm his state's $2 billion poultry industry and argued that a 35-year-old agreement should be used to settle differences over rivers shared by the two states.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office was reviewing the filing and planned to respond later Thursday, spokeswoman Emily Lang said.
Central to the dispute is the Illinois River, which flows west from Arkansas. Oklahoma says farm runoff in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma taints the river, and this summer it sued Tyson Foods and seven other Arkansas poultry companies, asking that they pay to repair the watershed.
On Thursday, Arkansas said the lawsuit violates federal law and a 1970 compact between Arkansas and Oklahoma that addresses river water quality.
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"Oklahoma should respect our progress in addressing these issues instead of trying to force Arkansas farmers and other businesses to abide by Oklahoma law," said Beebe, a Democrat who is running for governor.
There are almost 3,000 poultry houses in the Illinois River watershed -- 2,400 in Arkansas and 500 in Oklahoma -- and many fertilize their land with poultry litter, a combination of bird manure and rice hulls or wood chips. Oklahoma says excess runoff from the fertilizer produces phosphorus waste equivalent to 10.7 million people per year, harming the river and a lake.
Source: Associated Press
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