{"id":27440,"date":"2016-10-06T12:40:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T17:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=27440"},"modified":"2016-10-06T12:40:15","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T17:40:15","slug":"groups-opposing-state-question-on-agriculture-form-unusual-alliance-over-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/10\/06\/groups-opposing-state-question-on-agriculture-form-unusual-alliance-over-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups Opposing State Question On Agriculture Form Unusual Alliance Over Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_27437\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27437\" alt=\"Trout Unlimited's Scott Hood prepares to release this small trout he caught during the group's fishing trip to the Lower Illinois River near the Lake Tenkiller dam in eastern Oklahoma. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trout Unlimited&#39;s Scott Hood prepares to release this small trout he caught during the group&#39;s fishing trip to the Lower Illinois River near the Lake Tenkiller dam in eastern Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Oklahoma_Right_to_Farm_Amendment,_State_Question_777_(2016)\">State Question 777<\/a> \u2014 also known as \u2018right-to-farm\u2019 \u2014 would give agricultural producers in Oklahoma the constitutional right to raise livestock and grow crops without interference from future regulations by the state Legislature, without a compelling state interest.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Opposition to the state question comes from multiple sources, but a diverse coalition urging a \u2018no\u2019 vote is united by a shared concern: water.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/286362590&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>Just below the Lake Tenkiller dam, Scott Hood dons waders and a fly rod and stands in the cold waters of the lower Illinois River near Gore. A bite comes quickly.<\/p><p>\u201cI\u2019ve actually stood in the same spot, with the same fly, and caught eight species of fish,\u201d Hood says as he releases his catch back into the river.<\/p><p>Hood is with the Tulsa chapter of Trout Unlimited. Back on shore, he explains why the conversation group is urging Oklahomans to vote \u2018no\u2019 on State Question 777.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cChanging the state constitution is a step too far,\u201d he says. \u201cFarmers already have a terrific right to farm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Hood is worried about unintended consequences if voters approve SQ 777. He says the Legislature would be unable to enact new regulations to curtail water pollution from the runoff of livestock waste.<\/p>\n<h3>Past Problems and Strange Bedfellows<\/h3><p>Pollution from runoff been a concern in northeastern Oklahoma, and the subject of a <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/01\/16\/pressure-on-arkansas-polluters-behind-recent-illinois-river-water-quality-gains\/\">lawsuit brought against the poultry industry<\/a> by then Attorney General Drew Edmondson a decade ago that\u2019s never been ruled on. Hood says the Illinois River is cleaner than it used to be, but runoff from chicken waste is still a problem.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe\u2019re standing right here with the smell of sulfur dioxide in the air. It\u2019s definitely chicken litter from the Upper Illinois Watershed that\u2019s coming through Tenkiller Lake,\u201d he says. \u201cYou go up next to the dam and there are places up there you can actually hear the water coming out of the dam and you can smell sulfur like it\u2019s Yellowstone Park.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Hood is not a radical environmentalist. He\u2019s not even sure if climate change is man-made. Hood never thought his fishing group would join forces with animal activists.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI have to chuckle a little bit every time I think about who Trout Unlimited has joined forces with in this \u2018vote no\u2019 campaign,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re on the same team as PETA, and I\u2019m sure they don\u2019t particularly care for us trout fishermen, or anglers for that matter.\u201d<\/p><p>Many of the state\u2019s largest Native American nations also oppose SQ 777. They, too, are concerned about water.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27438\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27438\" alt=\"Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources, Sarah Hill, in front of the Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater2.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater2.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater2-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/10\/PHOTO-RTFwater2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources, Sarah Hill, in front of the Cherokee Nation Courthouse in Tahlequah.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cAny time you see Cherokees somewhere, you\u2019re going to see corn, beans, and squash growing,\u201d says Sarah Hill, secretary of natural resources for the Cherokee Nation.<\/p><p>Hill says \u2018right-to-farm\u2019 is dangerous for Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt ties the hands of the legislature in circumstances where we might really need them to step in and take action,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to look very far in Oklahoma to see that there are a lot of issues here that agriculture impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"ltr\">\u2018We\u2019re not going to pollute the water\u2019<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Like Scott Hood from Trout Unlimited, she\u2019s referring to runoff from large chicken operations contaminating the Illinois River watershed. But Oklahoma farmer David Von Tungeln, who is urging people to vote \u2018yes,\u2019 thinks this worry about water quality is nonsense.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI find particularly offensive the billboard in Oklahoma City showing the dirty water, saying if you vote for 777, this is what your water is going to look like,\u201d Von Tungeln says. \u201cAs a matter of fact, we drink the water and I\u2019m willing to do anything I can to make it cleaner. If we don\u2019t have clean water, we don\u2019t raise livestock, we don\u2019t produce food, and I don\u2019t like to be hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27380\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27380\" alt=\"Dennis Von Tungeln and his daughter, Amanda Rosholt, at a family home near Calumet, Okla. Von Tungeln wrote a $500 check to a political committee backing a 'yes' vote on State Question 777.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160831-dennis-von-tungeln011_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160831-dennis-von-tungeln011_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160831-dennis-von-tungeln011_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160831-dennis-von-tungeln011_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160831-dennis-von-tungeln011_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Von Tungeln and his daughter, Amanda Rosholt, at a family home near Calumet, Okla. Von Tungeln wrote a $500 check to a political committee backing a &#39;yes&#39; vote on State Question 777.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">John Collison with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau talked to StateImpact in March. He\u2019s equally perplexed by why water is even part of the discussion. He says the Illinois River is getting cleaner, and he credits the region\u2019s farmers for improving its quality.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe have spent years and years cleaning up that watershed. Were there wrongs in the past? Sure. Are there laws on the book today that we have to follow? Absolutely. Does this state question do anything to take those laws off the book? Absolutely not,\u201d Collison said. \u201cWe live here. We work here. Our kids grow up here. We\u2019re not going to pollute the water. That\u2019s just the most ridiculous thing of all times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If passed, the question would allow the legislature to further regulate the ag industry, but only if there\u2019s a compelling state interest to do so.<\/p><p>In May, Governor Mary Fallin <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklahomafarmreport.com\/wire\/news\/2016\/05\/00150_FallinSignsHB2446_223624.php#.V_VIb5MrKL4\">signed a bill<\/a> making it clear: water is a compelling state interest. But it\u2019s unclear how much weight that law will have if 777 passes. Its language only grandfathers in laws in effect prior to 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opposition to the state question comes from multiple sources, but a diverse coalition urging a \u2018no\u2019 vote is united by a shared concern: water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":27437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[313,450,586,637,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27440"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27458,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27440\/revisions\/27458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}