The Illinois River from Sparrowhawk Mountain-James Williams, Tahlequah, OK Illinois River expected to get (Arkansas) legislators’ attention, Senate president says
1/12/25
by Doug Thompson, Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Needs arising from Northwest Arkansas' growth are uppermost on the minds of the region's lawmakers headed to legislative session beginning Monday.
"I think our No. 1 priority is water and sewer, particularly where the Illinois River watershed is concerned," Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said in an interview.https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/jan/12/illinois-river-expected-to-get-legislators/---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Decades of studies not being used to ensure waterways are pollution-free
By Lee Guthrie | lguthrie@tahlequahdailypress.com Jan 8, 2025
After decades of studies and reports on the continuing degradation of Oklahoma’s waterways, organizations like Save The Illinois River and Spring Creek Coalition wonder why the data are not being implemented and the levels of bacteria and phosphorus continue to increase.
Barb Daily, vice president of STIR, has worked with the organization since moving to Tahlequah around 2008. Several binders holds hundreds of pages of reports and research she said never gets past the publishing of the results.https://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/decades-of-studies-not-being-used-to-ensure-waterways-are-pollution-free/article_980b02e4-cde8-11ef-ac1f-a7edb07356d3.html----------------------------------------------------------------
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt condemned the state's poultry lawsuit calling it a "radical left attempt at backdoor regulation through litigation."Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond responded by saying “Water doesn’t make political donations. Poultry does”.In response to Governor Stitt, Ed Brocksmith of Tahlequah wrote on January 7, 2025:
Too often Oklahoma officials send the wrong signals at the wrong time to polluters of the Illinois River watershed, the source of beautiful Lake Tenkiller. In the latest instance, Arkansas poultry companies must be elated, and thousands of clean water advocates insulted by their Governor’s immature tantrum last month.
As Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a candidate for Governor, stood before a federal court judge in Tulsa, Stitt condemned the lawsuit Oklahoma filed in 2005 naming poultry corporations for polluting the Illinois River with phosphorus. Phosphorus feeds ugly algae, robs fish of oxygen, and threatens public water supplies. If that wasn’t a sufficient retreat from protection of our natural resources, Stitt fired his Secretary of Energy and Environment, Ken McQueen, a plaintiff in the suit, because he took a seat at the state’s table at the hearing.
Oklahoma’s Legislature last session made the poultry industry immune from prosecution for polluting the waters of the state if they have a nutrient management plan. Big deal! Poultry farms must have a plan in the first place. An eastern Oklahoma lawmaker, District 86 Representative David Hardin of Stilwell, introduced the bill over the objections of tribal governments and conservationists.
Governor Stitt and Rep. Hardin, by stroking Big Chicken’s feathers, have proven by words and deeds that they don’t know what’s at stake as pollution ravages Lake Tenkiller, pretty Spring Creek, and other streams. Mr. Hardin even employed an Oklahoma House news release to say the Illinois River is “significantly” cleaner.
However, testimony painted a picture of a river impaired by phosphorus and bacteria, not meeting Oklahoma’s water quality goals.
“The ole gal is not doing well,” testified Ed Fite of Tahlequah who has managed our scenic rivers for close to 50-years. “The river is impaired,” he said.
Ed Brocksmith
Tahlequah, OK
Former Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission chair and cofounder of Save the Illinois River, Inc., STIRhttps://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/opinion/guest-editorial-officials-sending-wrong-signals-on-water-quality/article_1e3c91c0-cbcd-11ef-bd69-ff3812585918.htmlRemember Please that STIR membership dues are due in January, 2025. Join Online at: https://illinoisriver.org/membership/home/
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