OKLAHOMA CITY — After more than 20 years of litigation, state of Oklahoma has reached a $44 million settlement resolving the lawsuit against Tyson Foods, Cargill, George’s, Peterson Farms, Cal-Maine and Simmons Foods over poultry litter pollution in the Illinois River Watershed.
Oklahoma originally sued the companies in 2005 for the pollution, but it wasn’t until December 2025 that a federal judge found the companies liable for said pollution. However, that same judge rejected a smaller settlement for four out of the six companies in April for not meeting all of the necessary requirements of his original ruling.
This new agreement resolves the entire case with all six companies.
“This agreement allows us to turn the page on a dispute that has gone on for far too long,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in the settlement announcement. “It protects Oklahoma’s water, provides certainty for our poultry industry, and shows that difficult problems can be solved through persistence and good-faith negotiation. When the court asked us to strengthen the agreement, we went back to work and reached a better result. 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.”
According to the settlement agreement, the defendants will:
- Pay $41,167,000 into an Environmental Relief Fund for watershed stewardship and litigation costs to be transferred to the Oklahoma Conservation Commission;
- Pay a combined $420,000 in penalties to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality Revolving Fund;
- Fund a combined $1.9 million Auditor Fund to pay for an agreed-upon independent compliance monitor;
- Progressively reduce how much poultry litter removed from poultry houses each year is applied to the land within the watershed — from no more than 40 percent in years one and two, to no more than 30 percent in years three and four, down to no more than 20 percent in years five through seven — and litter exported from the watershed to meet those limits may not be land-applied in any other nutrient-sensitive watershed in Oklahoma;
- Fund, or secure funding for, half the cost of installing vegetative buffers on qualifying poultry farms along Lake Tenkiller and the watershed’s Scenic Rivers, which filter runoff before it reaches the water;
- Submit to annual compliance certifications and audits with financial penalties for any company that does not meet its litter-reduction commitments.
In exchange, the State will move to set aside the December 2025 court judgement and close out the lawsuit once the settlement is finalized, the settlement announcement stated. The payments to the Environmental Relief Fund are due within 30 days of the courts vacating the prior judgement and dismissing the case.
The settlement runs for seven years, and companies must still follow all of Oklahoma’s littler-management laws during and after that time, the announcement added.
“This settlement protects our water and Oklahoma’s thriving poultry growers,” Drummond added. “Families in this watershed have waited 21 years for that outcome. I’m glad all six companies came to the table to help us get there. This is what it looks like when everyone works together to make Oklahoma better.”
Industry stakeholders across Oklahoma commented on this new settlement and what it means for the future.
“After more than two decades of litigation, I am encouraged that the state and all six poultry integrators have reached a new agreement,” Oklahoma state Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, said in a statement. “The agreement announced this week appears to offer a more balanced path that addresses concerns within the watershed while recognizing the importance of poultry production to our region.
“It is important to be clear that this is an agreement between the Attorney General, acting on behalf of the state, and the defendant poultry integrators. It is not yet a court-approved resolution,” Hardin added. “The agreement must still move through the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the federal district court before the prior judgement can be vacated and the lawsuit dismissed. There are still important steps ahead, but I am hopeful this agreement will bring this decades-long case closer to a responsible conclusion and provide greater certainty for eastern Oklahoma families.”
“Oklahoma Farm Bureau members are pleased with the proposed settlement reached between the state of Oklahoma and 11 poultry companies operating in Oklahoma’s Illinois River Watershed over the state’s long-running lawsuit that was based on outdated science and production methods,” Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Stacy Simunek said in a statement. “The original lawsuit, filed in 2005, created uncertainty for family farmers and ranchers for more than two decades, and this agreement provides a way for Oklahoma farm and ranch families to continue their important work to feed Americans without being unnecessarily burdened.
“We appreciate Attorney General Drummond working with the poultry industry to reach a proposed solution that allows the poultry companies and our family farmers to continue to produce the food products we all rely upon while ensuring our shared natural resources are safeguarded for generations to come,” Simunek added. “Our state’s farmers and ranchers, including poultry producers in the Illinois River Watershed, are committed to implementing voluntary environmental stewardship practices each and every day to ensure their land is productive and our rural communities are protected.”
“Today’s proposed settlement has the potential to provide long-overdue certainty for farmers and rural communities that have lived under the uncertainty created by this litigation for more than two decades,” Blake Rollins, The Poultry Federation president, said in a statement. “While all parties have agreed to the proposed settlement, there are still legal steps that must be completed before this case can be resolved. We hope it will soon be time to move forward so farmers can focus on what they do best: producing our nation’s food while stewarding our natural resources.”
While Rep. Hardin and others offered hopeful sentiments about this new settlement, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt had some choice words for how long it took to reach this settlement.
“It is a shame that State Attorney General Gentner Drummond put our family-owned farmers through years of uncertainty and threats to ultimately reach the agreement I called for him to negotiate long ago,” Stitt said in a statement. “His delay tactics and theatrics were clearly unnecessary and harmed real Oklahomans in an attempt to benefit his trial attorney supporters.”
“After decades of litigation, the attorney general left the economic fates of these poultry growers to the courts despite ample opportunity to settle in a manner that protects the environment and the growers’ livelihoods,” the Governor’s statement added. “The proposed settlement would leave behind a regulatory checkerboard as well as incentives for further sue and settle tactics against Oklahoma’s agriculture industry.”
Out of all six companies, so far only Simmons Foods has released a statement about the settlement.
“This agreement is a formal extension of the work we’ve been doing for decades,” Simmons Foods CEO Todd Simmons said in the statement. “While it’s unfortunate that a political campaign was the driving force behind this senseless attack on agriculture, we hope the industry will be able to move forward with a clear plan after decades of uncertainty. Most importantly, we hope farm families in the IRW can return to a sense of normalcy and the tradition of agriculture in this region can be preserved for generations to come.”
Despite this settlement being reached, it still needs court approval before the lawsuit is officially resolved.
