{"id":18006,"date":"2014-01-16T06:09:35","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T12:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=18006"},"modified":"2014-01-16T09:18:13","modified_gmt":"2014-01-16T15:18:13","slug":"pressure-on-arkansas-polluters-behind-recent-illinois-river-water-quality-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/01\/16\/pressure-on-arkansas-polluters-behind-recent-illinois-river-water-quality-gains\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressure on Arkansas Polluters Behind Recent Illinois River Water Quality Gains"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ed<\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Ed Brocksmith, co-founder of the advocacy group Save the Illinois River, says clearer water doesn't mean the poultry industry should be off the hook.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Former State Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed a lawsuit<\/a> against the Arkansas poultry industry in 2005.<\/p>

His claim: Chicken waste was polluting the Illinois River with phosphorous. Arguments ended in 2009. Since then: nothing. The judge still hasn\u2019t ruled<\/a>.<\/p>

The lawsuit was one of the many ways the state has tried to address this issue.<\/p>

<\/p>

\u201cYou bet we\u2019re frustrated. There\u2019s been one study after another of pollution in this watershed. And yet the studies are still going on,\u201d says Ed Brocksmith, co-founder of the advocacy group Save the Illinois River<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re frustrated because Oklahoma had <\/i>a viable phosphorous limit for state scenic rivers, yet the state has turned around and put that limit in jeopardy by allowing this new study.\u201d<\/p>

The new<\/i> study Brocksmith is talking about is a partnership between<\/a> Oklahoma and Arkansas to determine whether phosphorous pollution goals established in 2002 are viable. But Ed Fite, administrator of the state Scenic Rivers Commission<\/a>, traces the history of the pollution much further back \u2014 and beyond chicken farms.<\/p>

\u201cThe headwaters of the Illinois River Basin is where Walmart is located. It\u2019s where the major poultry industry is located. It\u2019s where J.B. Hunt Trucking and some other large industries have set up shop,\u201d Fite says. \u201cThere were less than 200,000 people in the basin in the ’70s.\u201d<\/p>

Today the basin is home to about 600,000 people, and Fite says that rapid growth is hard on the river.<\/p>

\u201cWhen folks really started realizing that the Illinois River wasn\u2019t as pristine as it was was in the early ’80s,\u201d Fite says. \u201cThere was abundant algae growth \u2014 had all these nuisance types of algae that were occurring. And it was evident that something was going wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Oklahoma<\/a><\/p>\n

Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission Administrator Ed Fite outside the OSRC office near Tahlequah, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma has been pushing to limit phosphorous pollution ever since, including an attempt<\/a> that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1992 over discharges from Fayetteville\u2019s water treatment plant.<\/p>

But the state\u2019s chronic courtroom disappointments haven\u2019t kept progress from being made.<\/p>

Brocksmith stands at the bank of the Illinois River near Tahlequah, and describes the algae blooms when they were at their worst.<\/p>

\u201cThe rocks were actually green and slimy. And there was a particular type of algae that locals all \u2018horse snot algae\u2019 that was long strands,\u201d Brocksmith says. \u201cAnd now, especially after a really heavy rain, the rocks in the river are sparkling bright, and white, and the river is just crystal clear.\u201d<\/p>

Oklahoma might not have won its Supreme Court fight with Fayetteville, but that city, and growing communities across the watershed improved their water systems and started treating for phosphorous.<\/p>

Fite says poultry companies are feeling the pressure, too, thanks to the 2005 suit.<\/p>

\u201cThe poultry industry \u2014 since that lawsuit \u2014 has been moving out about 80 percent of the poultry waste plus out of the basin,\u201d Fite says.<\/p>

He\u2019s not sure if there will ever be a ruling on the 2005 lawsuit, especially if Arkansas and Oklahoma can finally work out a phosphorous pollution limit on their own, and given the improvements that have already been made.<\/p>

Until then, Fite hopes the poultry companies\u2019 apparent good faith efforts continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former State Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas poultry industry in 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":18015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[586,587,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18006"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18006"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18027,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18006\/revisions\/18027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}