Agreement ending 21-year Illinois River case becomes point of contention between Mazzei and Drummond
OKLAHOMA CITY — A settlement ending Oklahoma’s 21-year lawsuit over poultry litter pollution in the Illinois River Watershed has become a point of contention in the Republican gubernatorial runoff.
Former state Sen. Mike Mazzei argues Attorney General Gentner Drummond should have resolved the case sooner, even though the litigation had remained pending through the administrations of four previous attorneys general before Drummond negotiated a settlement during his first term.
The lawsuit was filed in 2005 by then-Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who alleged phosphorus from poultry litter generated by northwest Arkansas poultry operations was polluting the Illinois River Watershed. The case remained active through the administrations of Attorneys General Scott Pruitt, Mike Hunter and John O’Connor before Drummond took office in January 2023.
Nine days after Drummond was sworn in, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell issued the long-awaited liability ruling following a trial that had concluded more than a decade earlier. Nearly three years later, in December 2025, Frizzell entered a final remedial judgment that prompted appeals from both sides before the parties negotiated a settlement that became effective July 10. The agreement was publicly announced July 13.
“This settlement should have happened years ago,” Mazzei said in a campaign statement released after Drummond announced the agreement. “Instead, Attorney General Gentner Drummond dragged Oklahoma’s poultry producers, farmers and rural communities through years of costly litigation and uncertainty.”
Long-running dispute reaches negotiated end
Although it replaces a sweeping federal court judgment, the settlement largely preserves the objective that prompted Edmondson’s lawsuit more than two decades ago: reducing nutrient pollution reaching the Illinois River Watershed.
Instead of court-ordered remedies, the agreement establishes a seven-year compliance program requiring poultry companies to gradually reduce the amount of poultry litter applied within the watershed, fund watershed stewardship efforts and independent compliance monitoring, establish vegetative buffer strips along qualifying waterways, and continue complying with Oklahoma’s nutrient-management laws. The companies also agreed to pay $41.7 million toward environmental projects, civil penalties and litigation costs.
In announcing the settlement, Drummond said the agreement strikes a balance between protecting water quality and providing certainty for one of Oklahoma’s largest agricultural industries.
“When the court asked us to strengthen the agreement, we went back to work and reached a better result,” Drummond said. “Every company has now made enforceable commitments with clear deadlines, creating a balanced solution that protects our natural resources while supporting one of Oklahoma’s most important industries.”
Protections for poultry growers
The agreement also shifts much of the legal burden away from independent contract poultry growers. It makes the poultry companies responsible for complying with the settlement, bars them from seeking reimbursement from growers for settlement-related costs, releases growers from claims covered by the agreement and prohibits companies from citing the settlement itself as the reason for declining to renew a grower’s contract, although it does not require contracts to be renewed.
Political fallout
The litigation became a campaign issue in January when the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association withdrew its endorsement of Drummond, citing concerns about the case and its potential implications for agriculture. The organization later criticized the federal court’s remedial order before the parties reached this year’s settlement.
Mazzei’s campaign argues the agreement demonstrates the dispute could have been resolved sooner.
Drummond, meanwhile, has defended the settlement as a negotiated resolution that preserves the state’s long-standing effort to reduce nutrient pollution while providing greater certainty for poultry producers and bringing an end to litigation that had stretched across five attorneys general and more than two decades.
If approved by the courts, the settlement will vacate the December 2025 judgment, dismiss the litigation and replace it with a negotiated seven-year compliance program.
