Last week, Stitt filed a motion to move discussions along among the parties, according to a press release from the governor's office.
"The prospect of a shared solution could provide meaningful assistance to the Court, the people of the State of Oklahoma, the environment and the involved industries," according to the motion.
Oklahoma filed a case against 11 poultry companies including Tyson Foods in 2005. Eighteen years later, a federal District Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled the companies are guilty of polluting the Illinois River and Lake Tenkiller with phosphorus, which is found in agriculture runoff where chicken waste is stored or used as fertilizer.
Frizzell left it up to the state and corporations to agree on a remedy for the pollution, but they have not done it yet. The companies stalled negotiations, saying they had made progress on cleaning up the watershed since evidence was last heard in 2010. But in June, Frizzell ruled that poultry waste pollution is still harming the state's waterways and set a deadline for Oklahoma to outline a solution.
The State of Oklahoma filed its proposed cleanup plan in early July, which would require the poultry companies to pay millions of dollars in damages. Weeks later, the companies responded in opposition.
Now, Stitt is asking the court to move the process along. The governor said he doesn't like either party's suggested solution, and wants the court to facilitate a compromise that protects the environment and ensures continued business operations.
"Governor Stitt is confident that, with his participation, renewed settlement discussions may prove fruitful in achieving a reasonable conclusion to this long-running litigation," according to the motion.
Stitt hasn't been happy with how state officials have approached the court battle during his time as governor.
Last year, Stitt fired Ken McQueen, then Oklahoma secretary of energy and environment, for attending an evidentiary hearing on the lawsuit. In a social media post, the governor wrote the case is a "radical left attempt at backdoor regulation through litigation."
In a statement about his new motion, Stitt criticizes Attorney General Gentner Drummond's pursuit of damages from the companies.
"The witnesses put forward this year by the State Attorney General proposed to upend farming and ranching in Eastern Oklahoma," Stitt said in the press release. "It's time we advance a commonsense path that respects landowners, reestablishes business certainty, and preserves our way of life for the next generation."
In a statement, Drummond said the governor is prioritizing and protecting out-of-state poultry companies at the expense of the state's water and future generations.
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.
