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Animal waste may be labeled"The corporate poultry industry is terrified that some of these lawsuits are going to come down and say yes, they are responsible for this waste and it is hazardous," Smith said. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)--Oklahoma environmentalists said April 13 that they are alarmed that a bill declaring that animal waste is not a hazardous substance has been revived by a state House committee. Keith Smith, lobbyist for the Sierra Club of Oklahoma, said the measure, supported by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and poultry producers, is an attempt to undercut Oklahoma's right to protect its citizens' health. Attorney General Drew Edmondson has said the legislation is a response to a lawsuit he filed last year that accuses poultry producers of polluting streams in northeastern Oklahoma with tons of chicken litter laced with such substances as arsenic, copper and zinc. "The corporate poultry industry is terrified that some of these lawsuits are going to come down and say yes, they are responsible for this waste and it is hazardous," Smith said. The substances are added to chicken feed by poultry companies and are defined as hazardous under federal law, according to the attorney general. Smith said passing a law declaring that the chemicals are not hazardous does not change the facts. "That's crazy," he said. Leaders in the state Senate killed the measure last month, but the House Agriculture Committee inserted the bill's language into a separate measure and sent it to the House floor for a vote. Rep. Terry Hyman, House author of the bill, said the proposal will protect cattlemen in his southern Oklahoma district. "Beef production is the largest agricultural income segment in my district, so this bill is extremely important to these constituents and the businesses that rely on beef input purchases and spending the profits generated locally," said Hyman, D-Leon. Hyman said more than 120,000 head of cattle are produced annually in the three counties he represents--Love, Marshall and Carter--and are a major contributor to the local tax and economic base. Hyman said that animal wastes have been used as organic fertilizer in Oklahoma for many years. But if lawsuits like Edmondson's succeed, he said the wastes would have to go to a certified hazardous waste facility and be buried and encased in concrete. Date: 4/20/06
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