We fought to protect Oklahoma's waters. Now lawmakers want to pass a likely license to pollute
Not so long ago, you could stand waist deep in northeastern Oklahoma’s Illinois River and see your feet. Scuba divers, anglers and nature enthusiasts flocked to nearby Lake Tenkiller to revel in its crystal-clear waters.
Sadly, that pristine time has passed.
One of Oklahoma’s six designated scenic rivers, the Illinois now runs murky. During summer months, Lake Tenkiller is oxygen-starved due to the toxic blue-green algae blooms that feed on phosphorus that has leached into the water from poultry waste application to lands on both sides of the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.
While we served as Oklahoma’s governor and attorney general during the 1990s, two new laws — the Oklahoma Registered Poultry Feeding Operations Act and the Oklahoma Poultry Waste Applicators Certification Act — established strict regulations to stop large chicken farms from further polluting state waterways during a time when nearly 150 tons of phosphorus per year flowed into Lake Tenkiller. The laws have been amended in the years since, but this key language remains: “There shall be no discharge of poultry waste to waters of the state.”
House Bill 4118, now being considered by the Oklahoma Legislature, would repeal that language, effectively giving the poultry industry a license to pollute the rivers and lakes of Oklahoma.
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One of the bill’s authors, Sen. Brent Howard, cites HB 4118 as a solution to the practice of filing lawsuits just for a quick settlement. If this legislation becomes law, the large poultry companies — the integrators — along with contract farmers and poultry waste applicators, would receive immunity from public nuisance lawsuits if they comply with “nutrient management plans” approved by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. And while there may well be a problem with nuisance lawsuits under current law, HB 4118 is not the answer.
Last year, a federal district court found that 11 major poultry companies were primarily responsible for polluting the Illinois River Watershed. Here are more facts from that case:
No contract farmers were sued. Only the integrators faced litigation;
The integrators are all headquartered outside state borders, using Oklahoma as their sewer;
The litigation followed years of attempted negotiation between the state of Oklahoma and the integrators during which no attorney fees were asked for or necessary. Damages were only sought after the poultry companies refused to stop using our state as their toilet;
Contract farmers will not be subjected to new regulations or expenses due to this federal lawsuit. Any new requirements will be imposed on the integrators, who should pay for the safe disposal of their waste, just like any other American industry;
Contract farmers never own the chickens they raise. The integrators own the chickens from chick to processing. Unless they die. Under the contracts, dead chickens belong to the farmers.
HB 4118 is the most blatant special interest legislation to come down the pike. It benefits only out-of-state companies making billions of dollars at the expense of Oklahoma’s rivers and lakes. It does not protect farmers. It does not protect Oklahoma resources.
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We are extremely proud of the bipartisan work we did to protect state waterways from poultry waste flowing downstream from Arkansas. We approved new regulations in 2002 limiting phosphorus in the state’s scenic rivers to 0.037 parts per million, a standard still in effect today yet not enforced. While phosphorus levels have decreased in the Illinois River Watershed (thanks chiefly to better wastewater treatment facilities in northwest Arkansas), a 2023 report stated that the Illinois River still contains almost double the legal limit of phosphorus at both the Arkansas border and Tahlequah. Nutrient management plans alone won’t stop pollution. Oklahoma needs tough regulations, and its state agencies need the resources to enforce them. Oklahoma’s poultry waste statutes have had some positive effects, but the work is not finished. HB 4118 would only halt our progress.
Do we really need a law that grants the poultry industry a license to pollute, a law that protects multibillion-dollar corporations while leaving contract farmers holding the bag? Stand up for Oklahoma. Urge your state senator to vote “NO” on HB 4118.
Frank Keating is a former Republican governor of Oklahoma. Drew Edmondson, a Democrat, is a state former attorney general.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Proposed Oklahoma law would grant poultry industry license to pollute
