Poultry Exec: Didn't Check If Rules Were Followed

JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A Cargill executive testified Thursday that he did not check to see if company farmers were following an environmental handbook he helped compile in 2002 that warned them not to spread excess chicken manure on their land because the runoff could pollute area water.

Timothy Maupin, vice president of agricultural operations for Cargill Turkey Production LLC, also said in court that his company developed a pilot program in 2002 to haul excess chicken waste from a sensitive watershed shared by Oklahoma and Arkansas to Kansas.

The company abandoned those plans after just two years, he said, in part because it wasn't turning a profit.

Maupin's testimony appeared to bolster Oklahoma's federal pollution case against nearly a dozen poultry companies that claims they knew about pollution from the tons of chicken manure produced in the Illinois River watershed over the past several decades but did nothing or very little about it.

Oklahoma sued the industry in 2005, saying the companies are responsible for the manure their chickens produce. The companies say the waste is the responsibility of their contract growers.