Oklahoma wants poultry companies to pay $25M in attorney's fees

In addition to requesting that U.S. courts limit poultry litter fertilizer application in the Illinois River watershed to 65 pounds per acre, the state of Oklahoma wants poultry companies to implement watershed remediation, pay civil penalties for alleged pollution since 1993 and pay for the state’s attorney fees, according to the Associated Press.
Oklahoma’s attorney fees total about $25M, according to the state’s attorney general.
Poultry companies should be required to remove all poultry waste from the watershed that exceeds the proposed 65-pound limit, a state said in a filing with the court. It also wants poultry producers to be subject to reporting and monitoring requirements.
Attorneys for the poultry industry said in their filing that restrictions on the use of poultry litter would impose huge economic burdens on both poultry producers and the farmers who use the product as a fertilizer. They said that the state has failed to prove that poultry litter imposes or will impose a “substantiated threat to human health, drinking water, recreational use or wildlife.”
Closing arguments in the case begin February 18.