If you’ve spent enough time living in Oklahoma, you’ve probably heard about our little problem with chicken shit. If you haven’t, allow me to update you.
For years now Oklahoma has been home to a robust poultry industry. How robust, you ask? Robust enough that their shit is altering the chemistry of our water.
All the way back in 2005, Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmonson filed a lawsuit against a host of industrial food producers, including Tyson Foods, Simmons Foods, and Cargill. The case sat in the courts for nearly two decades before Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled in Oklahoma’s favor. According to reporting by the nonprofit news outlet The Frontier, Frizzell ruled that “the companies knowingly contributed to pollution in the Illinois River, which allowed phosphorus to flow into the river causing algae blooms, diminished water clarity, and other environmental harms.”
This is all to say that poultry companies have quite literally been using our home as a toilet. If that weren’t bad enough, last June Judge Frizzell ruled against the poultry companies again, this time affirming that their practices have not changed in the two decades since the issue was joined.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond has now filed a proposed final judgment, calling for maximum fines to be levied against the poultry companies for every day they have been polluting. This would add up to millions of dollars per company. The money could be used to clean polluted sites, treat drinking water, or perform other cleanup operations.
Governor Kevin Stitt, always eager to help, has expressed concern that this legal action may damage the private sector and make Oklahoma less appealing to companies. Stitt took the step of firing the State Secretary of Energy and Environment last December and replaced him with attorney Jeff Starling, also critical of the lawsuit on business grounds. Starling has recently announced his candidacy for attorney general. Meanwhile, the Illinois river is presumably as phosphorescent as it’s ever been. So how do we act as stewards to our state? Do we follow the lead of a governor who took a vacation during this year’s wildfires? Should we take the easy money and let the Tyson Foods of the world treat our home like a truck stop bathroom? Somehow that doesn’t feel right. Then again, I’m biased. I happen to live here full-time.
Local News
- 109 barrels of hazardous waste found last September in North Tulsa finally being cleaned up
- Tulsans receiving help from the Tulsa Housing Authority are facing possible loss of rental assistance due to federal budget shortfalls
- Two Tulsa high school students have discovered what are presumed to be new species of microbes
- Tulsa County Commissioners approve AI data center plan in Owasso
- NATV closes its brick and mortar location in Broken Arrow
- et al. spinoff Natsukashii plans new Japanese-y spot at 14 N. Cheyenne
- KOSU loses $300,000 in federal dollars after congressional vote to strip funding from public TV and radio
State & Regional News
- Oklahoma Watch reports that Oklahoma has one of the shortest eviction timelines in the nation
- President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” slashes $230 billion to SNAP; Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma CEO Jeff Marlow speaks out on the Oklahoma impact
- The Oklahoma State Department of Education announced a partnership with the Today Foundation, in furtherance of Secretary of Education Ryan Walters’ preference for “fact-based, pro-America education.”
Jobs & Opportunities
- The Terrence Crutcher Foundation seeks a director of strategy & operations | Full-time | Salary $85,000 to $95,000
- Healthy Minds Policy Initiative seeks a policy analyst | Full-time | Salary $60,000 to $70,000
- JusticeLink seeks a jail navigator | Full-time | Salary $40,000 to $50,000
- Prism Cafe seeks a sandwich line cook | Part-time | Pay not listed
- Arts and Humanities Council Tulsa is offering grants to nonprofits with a focus on arts & humanities up to $5,000
- BOK Center is hiring for multiple positions | Full-time and part-time | Salaries vary
- Kendall Whittier Main Street, TAC Gallery, Liggett Studio have all issued calls for art
