At 1:30 my favorite topic is on the docket! The proliferation of factory chicken production in NE Okla! Arkansas CAFOs contribute no jobs, steal our resources & pollute our water & land. Will the #OkLeg side w/ citizens? Tune in to see! ➡️ okhouse.gov/Video/Default.… cc: @righttoharm
I have to stop myself from calling these monstrosities on the agenda "farms." ONE of these is a farm. The others...? 🤔 The pic on the left is a farm w/ 80 free range laying hens. In the other pic is about 1.5 MILLION broiler birds in those barns. They are 3 miles apart. #OkLeg 
See the proliferation of poultry operations in NE Okla on this map by @readfrontier. The state has NOT been notifying ppl when mega complexes are built on fence line neighbors. That's right, no notification, 100s of thousands of 🐓on fence line neighbors. cliftonadcock.carto.com/builder/b09c3a…
What's the process to build one of these mega chicken factories in NE Okla? A 2-page registration form & $10 fee. Yes, a REGISTRATION fee, not a permit. That means no PERMISSION, just registering the location. No on-site visit from state or county officials to approve the ops.
Some neighbors' front porches are 800 feet from these mega factories. The only time someone can protest the factory farms is during the water permitting process (if the neighbor even finds out). But many times the poultry operation is already under construction by then.
By then, the Arkansas-based poultry companies claim a "hardship" because the complexes are already built and they have birds coming in so they can't deprive the birds of water. Therefore, they get a "temporary" water well permit granted by Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB).
These "temporary" well permits are renewed for years at a time w/ no protest allowed for residents living on the fence line. These mega complexes are built across from schools, churches, cemeteries, etc. Here is a pic of one across from Twin Oaks Baptist Church in the foreground.
These poultry ops do not employ Oklahomans. Simmons & other Arkansas-based corporate farming interests deliver feed, chicks, propane and all other supplies the short distance across the state line, directly from Arkansas to the farms. There is no measurable economic impact.
Listening to Rep. Johnny Tadlock ask basically "is this the middle of nowhere?" No, Rep. Tadlock, it is not. We have lived in this area forever. You can't drive two seconds through this area without seeing another house. This isn't a desolate area.
Arkansas-based poultry companies can pull as much water as they want from wells without measuring the amount of water. So out-of-state companies like Simmons use our free water, encroach upon our residents, without our Oklahoma residents being allowed notification or recourse.
The state representative for Delaware County, the area most affected, is Josh West. Thus far, he's not been helpful & has refused to help or even listen to residents in a meaningful way. Why? Well, Rep. West is employed by Simmons Foods, the company encroaching upon the area.
I also love how @RepPfeiffer asked Grant Hall, a normal citizen, how many other states monitor air quality. lol... I thought we wanted to be a #Top10State? He told Mr. Hall only California did. Well golly, gee... I'd hate to be like those California hippies! 🙄
@RepPfeiffer, I am happy to host you for a visit to our farm. When I'm driving through the area I've lived my whole life... where my family has lived for 180 years... I don't need a monitor to know the air smells like chicken sh*t & chicken carcasses to the point I want to vomit.
When I can't roll my windows down on a beautiful day & enjoy the land my family has called home & farmed for generations, I don't need a monitor to tell me it can't be healthy or good for my lungs or tourism or business. At that point, I don't care about ad valorem @RepPfeiffer.
So please sir, please come and visit us in Mayes and Delaware County. I am happy to host you for a visit at any time. I'll even offer you a glass of fresh, cold, ice water at the end of a hot day from our freshwater well.
LOL.... listening to @OklahomaAg tell this #OKLeg committee what regs Arkansas has in place around poultry. That would be like other states looking to Oklahoma for regulations around oil & gas.
Wow, @repdellkerbs made sure to cut this committee mtg off at 3:30p on the dot, just when Rep. Blancett began asking @OklahomaAg tough Q's on how many jobs poultry CAFOs create, what the wages are, if ODAFF has ever denied an app, etc. I guess the answers don't suit his narrative
And btw @repdellkerbs, if you're reading this, you tried to make the point, "WOW! How interesting! There are NO corporate owned poultry farms per statute!" 🤩 As though you were bewildered by that fact. Please don't play dumb. You know contracted growers are just the pass thru...
In fact, you should be outraged at what the corporations and/or owners do to & how they treat regular Oklahomans who ARE the contracted growers. Or how they recruit immigrants here under false pretense. Or how they abuse families & kids drop out of school to help run the barns.
The whole thing is a racket. Growers or owners are who take out the million $$ loans on the barns & assume the risk. Not Simmons or Tyson. So when the market bottoms out, it's not Simmons or Tyson on the hook with empty barns. It's your regular constituents & neighbors like us.
Just to add to this thread... this info sheet was passed out to lawmakers on the ag committee today from Green Country Guardians, which is the grassroots organization citizen Grant Hall was representing. #OkLeg
The cherry on top:
“The only requirements for opening a poultry feeding operation is a submitting an application to the Oklahoma Department of Food & Forestry w/ basic info about the operation & paying a $10 app fee.”
Via @readfrontier & @cliftonhowze
readfrontier.org/stories/state-…
“The only requirements for opening a poultry feeding operation is a submitting an application to the Oklahoma Department of Food & Forestry w/ basic info about the operation & paying a $10 app fee.”
Via @readfrontier & @cliftonhowze
readfrontier.org/stories/state-…
