TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa federal judge again sided with the state’s top prosecutor in a nearly 20-year court battle over pollution in the Illinois River watershed, allegedly caused by chicken slaughterhouses.
The 2005 lawsuit was filed against poultry giants Tyson Foods, Cal-Maine, Cargill, Peterson Farms, and Simmons Foods, among others.
WATCH: Judge allowing poultry pollution case to continue, agrees pollution continues
The State of Oklahoma has argued ever since that the corporations' facilities dumped millions of tons of pollutants in chicken litter into nearby rivers and creeks. This includes excess nitrogen, phosphorus, oil, and cyanide in the Illinois River, Flint Creek, and Lake Tenkiller in Cherokee and Sequoyah counties.
On June 17, Judge Gregory Frizzell denied the December 2024 argument from the poultry lawyers on that data used for the pollution claim in the 2010 trial was no longer valid, and ordered the two sides to either come to a settlement agreement or wait until his final ruling.
- Previous coverage>>> Evidentiary hearing underway in federal court in long-running poultry lawsuit
Gov. Kevin Stitt is not on board with this lawsuit, and even fired his Secretary of Energy & Environment Ken McQueen for being present during testimony in December. The governor’s office did not return 2 News' request for comment on June 18.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond - who cannot be fired - issued this statement in response to the judge's decision:
"I’m committed to finding a path forward that restricts poultry producers from polluting the Illinois River and allows us to clean up the watershed to preserve it for future generations. We very much value the poultry companies and want them to remain in Oklahoma. But that doesn’t mean the industry can pollute the Illinois River, one of our state’s greatest treasures. Having a clean river doesn’t mean we can’t also have good industry. Both can, and should, exist."
Former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who first filed the lawsuit back in 2005, could not be reached for comment. The Poultry Federation and Tyson Foods did not return emails requesting a statement either.
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