Although the lawsuit was filed in 2005 and argued in court in 2010, Judge Gregory K. Frizzell just ruled poultry companies are responsible for the pollution in 2023. Since then, the state and the companies — Tyson, Cobb-Vantress, Simmons, Peterson Farms, Cargill, Cal-Maine and George's — have been working on a plan to address the issue.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a proposed course of action in mid-July. The proposal seems to have ruffled some feathers at the poultry companies.
"General Drummond's proposed remedy would run roughshod over Oklahoma law and public policy," the companies' attorneys wrote in a response filed Jul. 30.
Drummond suggests each company pay a $10,000 fine for each day they violated Oklahoma's laws about how much phosphorus can be added to soil.
For all five poultry companies, those violations started in the late-90s, and Drummond says they need to pay for violations up to when the lawsuit was filed in June 2005. Tyson would owe the most — almost $30 million.
The companies' attorneys argue such hefty fines on an important industry would harm the public interest.
"The Court should not award any civil penalties at all, let alone penalties based on General Drummond's excessive calculation," they wrote in the rebuttal.
They also take exception to Drummond's proposed cleanup strategy. He suggests the companies and the state can agree on a master supervisor to plan and enforce the remediation of the watershed. The companies' attorneys argue this skirts the state's responsibility to develop a remediation plan.
They also point to Oklahoma's land application permitting process, which determines how much poultry waste can be used to fertilize a field on a case-by-case basis. They argue this is an "adequate alternative remedy" and renders the proposed prevention measures unnecessary.
Drummond has until Aug. 11 to respond.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
