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Oklahoma's governor wants to settle the federal lawsuit over pollution of the Illinois River, saying his state's attorney general and the defendant Northwest Arkansas poultry companies are at an impasse, according to a court motion filed Friday. The governor wants to intervene to protect the poultry industry at the cost of clean water in their state, the Oklahoma attorney general replied Tuesday. Gov. Kevin Stitt, citing his role as "the chief magistrate with supreme executive power, respectfully requests that the court set this matter for a status conference," Friday's motion states. The suit in federal court in Tulsa involves phosphorus pollution of the Illinois River from chicken litter. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled on Jan. 18, 2023 the 11 defendant poultry companies are liable, but has yet to rule on penalties. "Gov. Stitt does not support either competing final judgment," referring to the proposals for final judgment submitted by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and by the defendants, Friday's motion states. "As the leader of the executive branch with superior constitutional power, the governor has authority which gives him the right to represent the state." "Gov. Stitt is confident that, with his participation, renewed settlement discussions may prove fruitful in achieving a reasonable conclusion to this long-running litigation." Drummond replied in a statement Tuesday: "Gov. Stitt is prioritizing and protecting out-of-state corporate poultry at the expense of Oklahoma's water and future generations." The Illinois River's headwaters lie in Northwest Arkansas. From there the river flows into Oklahoma. Litter is used for fertilizer in the watershed, and phosphorus from litter feeds algae in the river, the court has ruled. The algae in turn deplete oxygen needed by other species. The river flows from Northwest Arkansas into eastern Oklahoma. Drummond's proposals to the court to sharply limit litter's use as fertilizer would amount to a ban on the practice in the river's watershed; this and the cost of removing all litter from the watershed would ruin poultry growers throughout the region, defendants argue. The build-up of phosphorus in the watershed's soil would take decades to deplete even if all litter application there stopped, according to court testimony. The river's watershed covers 1,657 square miles, with 758 square miles in Benton, Washington and Crawford counties in Arkansas and the rest in northeast Oklahoma's Adair, Cherokee, Delaware and Sequoyah counties. Most of the poultry farms applying litter are in Arkansas, according to court testimony. Stitt's and Drummond's clash over conduct of the court case broke open last year. Stitt fired Ken McQueen, his secretary of Energy and Environment, Dec. 3 for attending a hearing in the court case despite the status of the secretary's department as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. A predecessor of Drummond as attorney general, Drew Edmondson, filed the lawsuit in 2005, years before Stitt took office and appointed McQueen. McQueen's replacement as secretary, Jeff Starling, is running to replace Drummond as attorney general. Drummond is running for governor. Stitt is term-limited as governor. Starling filed a motion Oct. 2 to have a private law firm represent his department in the lawsuit instead of the attorney general. Stitt, Drummond and Starling are Republicans. "I'm disappointed that Ken McQueen would join AG Drummond, former AG Drew Edmondson and environmentalists in opposition to Oklahoma farmers and landowners by appearing at a court hearing today in his capacity as secretary," Stitt said in a statement at the time of McQueen's Dec. 3 firing. Some of Oklahoma's poultry growers help supply defendant companies. "This nearly two decade-old case is a radical left attempt to backdoor regulation through litigation. I've fired him from his position as Secretary of Energy and Environment and director of the Department of Energy effective immediately." Stitt appointed Starling at the same time. As attorney general he is the attorney for the state of Oklahoma, not the governor, Drummond said on the day of McQueen's firing. "Water doesn't make political donations. Poultry does," he added at the time. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
