Dirty Politics by Dirty Polluters

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Oklahoma Commissioners Thank Poultry Industry, Draw Ire From Peers

By John L. Moore

The Morning News

Three commissioners of an Oklahoma environmental agency charged with protecting that state's six scenic rivers taped television commercials this week thanking Arkansas-based poultry companies for a donation and recent work in the watershed.

The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission oversees six scenic rivers in eastern Oklahoma.

Commissioners Bill Blackard and Rick Stubblefield said they did the commercials to recognize the companies for a $1.1 million donation and for efforts to truck poultry litter out of the area.

The commercials were produced by Tulsa television station KTUL, said Janet Wilkerson, a poultry company spokeswoman. Wilkerson said Commissioner Janice Rucker also participated in the commercials.

"It was just some good works by the commissioners and words of thanks," she said.

Stubblefield said the commissioners' comments were not endorsements of the poultry companies.


"It's no different than what we did when we took letters of 'thank you' to the cities in Northwest Arkansas when they agreed to reduce the phosphorus leaving their wastewater treatment plants," he said.

The commission for years has campaigned for reduction of phosphorus in the watershed, but some commissioners have become vocal opponents of Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson's lawsuit against the poultry companies.

The lawsuit alleges that the poultry industry is the main contributor of phosphorus to the watershed and should pay to clean it up. Poultry litter applied to fields in the area contribute to phosphorus in the watershed, Edmondson claims.

The negative talk about Edmondson's lawsuit has split the commission.

Commissioner Ed Brocksmith, a supporter of Edmondson's suit, said he feared the public would perceive the other commissioners' "thank you" as an endorsement of the poultry companies.

"In another time and theater of battle, say the invasion of Normandy in WWII, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower would personally put these (commissioners) on the next plane back to the states, where they would sit out the war. He would have them court-martialed," Brocksmith said.

Commissioner Gerald Hilsher said he had not been told of plans for the commercials.

"It's a little surprising to me. If this is being done by them as individuals, that's one thing," Hilsher said.

"If they are doing it as representatives of the commission, it's something to talk about. We are still a commission that's supposed to work by majority vote and discretion."

The advertisements will not have any effect on the lawsuit, said Charlie Price, a spokesman for Edmondson's office.

Price also said there appeared to be no definite court case or state law that would prevent the commissioners from participating in a television advertisement.

Efforts to contact the general manager of KTUL by phone to find out when the commercials would be broadcast were not immediately successful Thursday afternoon.



Fast Facts

Scenic Rivers

* The Illinois River is approximately 100 miles long and its watershed has nearly 1 million acres.

* The watershed is split almost evenly between Oklahoma and Arkansas.

* Lake Tenkiller, the water supply for Tahlequah, Okla., was formed by a dam on the Illinois River, which empties into the Arkansas River at Gore, Okla.

Source: Staff Report