O’Malley criticizes suit against Perdue poultry farms

Posted: 11:59 am Fri, November 18, 2011
By Associated Press

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O’Malley is criticizing a lawsuit filed by a University of Maryland environmental law clinic against an Eastern Shore poultry farm over pollution concerns.

The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of a letter that O’Malley wrote this week to the university’s law school Dean Phoebe Haddon. In it, O’Malley complained about the “ongoing injustice” of pursuing costly litigation against the Worcester County which is raising chickens for Perdue.

Haddon responded in a letter to the governor that there are good grounds for the suit. She also criticized O’Malley, who is a lawyer, for commenting on pending litigation.

The clinic is representing the Waterkeepers Alliance and others who are suing Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms Inc. over claims that runoff is polluting a nearby waterway.