A Dangerous Game With Oklahoma’s Poultry Industry
Your recent guest editorial from Brian Thompson, Tyson has a chance to lead on this issue, completely ignores the hard truths about the squabble between Gentner Drummond and Tyson Foods.
Oklahoma’s Attorney General is playing a dangerous game of chicken with the state’s poultry industry. If he wins, every Oklahoman will pay the price.
The Economic Reality Most Oklahomans Don’t See
Most citizens have no idea how big poultry is here. Last year alone, it pumped $1.3 billion in cash receipts into our economy — 2.5 percent of Oklahoma’s entire GDP. The industry supports more than 25,000 good-paying jobs, mostly in rural counties where workers have few other options. Those dollars don’t just land in corporate accounts in Arkansas; they pay mortgages in Stilwell, buy pickup trucks in Idabel, and keep small-town schools open.
A Political Lawsuit Resurrected
Yet Drummond is demanding $100 million in punitive fines from Arkansas-based poultry companies, exploiting a twenty-year-old lawsuit originally filed by his Democrat political ally, former Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Perhaps this explains why Drummond donated to Edmondson‘s gubernatorial campaign.
Environmental Progress Ignored
Nobody wants dirty rivers. But let’s be honest—the Illinois River watershed is dramatically cleaner today than it was two decades ago. Poultry companies have invested hundreds of millions in nutrient-management technology, riparian buffer zones, and litter-export programs. Water-quality data show phosphorus levels trending downward for years. In other words, the industry has largely fixed the problems that Drummond is using to justify his jackpot.
The Coming Fallout for Rural Oklahoma
Industry leaders in Arkansas have already signaled that if Drummond presses forward, they will simply stop contracting with Oklahoma growers. Contracts will shift to Texas, Alabama, or overseas. Processing plants will downsize or close. Feed mills will shutter. The ripple effect through rural Oklahoma would be devastating—and irreversible.
Extortion Masquerading as Environmentalism
Drummond’s demand is not about conservation; it’s extortion dressed up as environmentalism. It’s the same Biden-era mindset that sacrifices working families on the altar of ideological purity. Oklahoma farmers aren’t the villains here—they’re the ones who’ve done the hard, expensive work of becoming better stewards while still feeding America affordably.
A Choice With Consequences
Oklahoma has a clear choice: stand with the 25,000 families who depend on a thriving poultry industry, or hand Gentner Drummond a $100 million political trophy that will vanish into the state treasury while entire communities collapse.
A Call for Conservative, Practical Leadership
It is cruel to punish Oklahoma farmers for doing the right thing, and it is suicidal to decimate one of our largest industries.
We must be conservative and practical about the balance between industry and environment — between political games and people’s livelihoods.
~ Mike Mazzei, Former Oklahoma State Senator & Secretary of Budget
