U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell has fallen ill, delaying the closing arguments in Oklahoma’s lawsuit against 11 Arkansas poultry producers, according to the Associated Press. Closing arguments were originally scheduled for February 11, but have been put off until February 18.
The suit alleges that poultry litter, which farmers apply to their land as fertilizer, has run off into the Illinois River watershed, causing high phosphorous and low oxygen levels. Poultry producers counter that it is legal to use poultry litter as fertilizer and that the state has not shown that the waste had negative impacts on the watershed.
