Meat + Poultry - October 2009 - 27

to a comprehensive inspection that
measures run-off, fi eld gradient,
crop rotation and several other factors before a permit is allowed. "But
the attorney general says pollution
by the poultry industry is a problem
even though the industry is regulated
by the department of agriculture,"
Cunningham said. "We're already
regulated - regulated a lot."
The suit pits the state attorney
general's office against the chief regulatory agency of Oklahoma's farming and livestock production industries, the Oklahoma Department of

"Just because it's the
poultry industry
that's being targeted
today doesn't mean
it can't be the beef
industry or the pork
industry tomorrow."
Agriculture. If the attorney general's office wins the judge's decision,
the balance of regulatory authority
will be thrown into question, likely
requiring new legislation from the
state legislature to clarify the new
confusion. While monetary damages have already been ruled out, a
decision could establish an injunctive
precedent. Moreover, there's some
feeling in the poultry industry that
following the successful and highly
lucrative lawsuits fi led by states attorneys general against the tobacco
industry, these agencies and plaintiffs' attorneys as well see agriculture
as another potential pot of gold for
state coffers. "I don't know, maybe
the attorney general thought the
poultry industry is an easy target,"
Cunningham said.
Complicating the Oklahoma situation even further, the Cherokee
Nation has tribal ownership of water and land in certain regions of the
state and has legal claims concerning
the purity of these resources. Late in
the game the Nation tried to become
party to the lawsuit, but a judge re-

cently ruled that the tribe could not
participate. However, future negotiations and regulations over pollution of natural resources will likely
have to include and accommodate
tribal interests.
The Oklahoma suit comes at a
time when the use of animal-waste
fertilizer is being scrutinized elsewhere in the country. In recent weeks,
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency issued a draft plan that would
require virtually all farms with livestock in any of the six states that comprise the Chesapeake Bay watershed
to register as CAFOs (concentrated
animal feeding operations), blaming
agricultural run-off for significant
pollution of the Bay. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told the Washington Post that the agency's plan could
be a model for EPA's approach in
other watersheds. "We want to make
this a laboratory to show that it can
be done," she said.
Cunningham told Meat&Poultry
that "in some ways, we have been
our own worst enemy." She said
the poultry industry has not done
a good job convincing the public of
the value and importance of poultry production and of poultry as a
healthy protein. She added that the
industry also "needs to do a much
better job telling the public about
our strong environmental stewardship." She noted that the industry
had given $1.1 million to the Oklahoma Scenic River Commission to
help the group address stream bank
erosion and other leading causes of
nutrient-loading in the water. The
gift also helped attract federal funding from the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program, which provides an additional $4 for every $1
the Commission spends on specific
conversation practices. ■

First in
Sanitary
Design,
Reliability
and Value
Multivac Horizontal
Form Fill-Seal Systems

W
iii
EXPO

See us at WWFE
booth #N1602
* Global Leader in HFFS
Packaging
* Systems for Businesses and
Budgets of Every Size
* Most Experienced Team in
Packaging
* 24/7 Service, Spare Parts,
Customer Support
Call us at 800-800-8552 or
e-mail muinc@multivac.com

Steve Bjerklie is M&P's East Coast correspondent
based in Franconia, N.H. He has worked as a
journalist covering the meat and poultry processing industry for more than 25 years.
We would like to hear from you - to comment
on this story or to request reprints, contact us
by e-mail at meatpoultry@sosland.com.

www.MeatPoultry.com * October 2009 * Meat&Poultry * 27

www.multivac.com

http://www.MeatPoultry.com http://www.multivac.com

Meat + Poultry - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - October 2009