Oklahoma, Poultry Firms Reach Multimillion-Dollar Illinois River Settlement | JQJO

Oklahoma City: The State of Oklahoma and six poultry companies agreed Monday to a $41.7 million settlement to resolve a 21-year lawsuit alleging poultry litter polluted the Illinois River watershed. Oklahoma sued Tyson Foods, Cargill, George's, Peterson Farms, Cal-Maine and Simmons Foods in 2005; the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma found the companies liable for pollution in December 2025. The new agreement, filed in federal court, replaces a narrower deal that a judge rejected in April 2026 and is expected to close the case with all six companies.

The settlement requires the companies to pay tens of millions of dollars into an environmental relief fund that will be transferred to the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, along with combined state penalties of $420,000 and a $1.9 million auditor fund to pay for a compliance monitor. Under the agreement, the companies will progressively reduce how much poultry litter removed from poultry houses is applied to land in the watershed. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the deal "allows us to turn the page" on a long dispute, protects the state's water and provides regulatory certainty for the poultry industry.