A fact sheet presented to the Oklahoma Scenic River Commissioners by state Secretary of Environment Miles Tolbert on behalf of state Attorney General Drew Edmondson at the commission’s August meeting was a display of inaccurate information.

I question whether the secretary of the environment and the attorney general failed to do their jobs in providing current and correct data for the commissioners, or if the report was fabricated intentionally.

If the two didn’t do their homework and they really don’t know how many active poultry houses are in the watershed or how much litter is generated in those houses, that is a display of incompetence on their part. The state is embroiled in this lawsuit that Tolbert has joined with the attorney general against the poultry companies. We find it hard to believe they aren’t aware of the number of poultry houses or tons of litter they are talking about.

But if these two state officials do know that there are 1,694 houses in the watershed, instead of the 3,057 reported to the commissioners, shame on them.

The 1,694-house number was a “head count” conducted by the poultry industry as of 4 p.m. on Aug. 29. According to Tolbert’s fact sheet, his number, 3,057, came from a 2002 report from his own office.

Not only were the number of poultry houses reported almost twice the actual numbers, Tolbert estimated more than 177 tons of litter generated annually per house (average). The court-appointed management team for the Eucha/Spavinaw Watershed Management Team, based on the most recent 2005 records, estimated that 90 tons of litter per house (average) is generated.

If you use the 90 tons per house times the 1,694 houses, you get 152,460 tons of litter. That is only about 28 percent of the 542,948 tons Tolbert reported. There is a huge difference there in the actual numbers by the man who should have accurate and undisputable numbers.

Tolbert’s report states that 124,878 tons can be safely applied in the watershed. From the estimated tons of litter generated, 152,460, deduct that amount, 124,878, plus the 52,000 tons we know has been removed from the watershed this year by Best Management Practices, that calculates to a negative number, meaning the poultry industry is already moving more litter out of the watershed than it needs to. Again, our numbers are based on actual and current counts and records. Thus, Tolbert is just plain wrong when his fact sheet states “there is an excess of 418,070 tons.”

As a poultry producer and citizen of Oklahoma, I feel the people of the state should have the correct numbers. I continue to be very disappointed by state officials when they report facts that are misleading – whether it’s intentional, a simple error or incompetence, it’s still wrong.

They are risking the future of farming in Oklahoma and the United States, which also will put at risk our own food supply. It seems to me that there is not a factual basis for their lawsuit. It is intended to put money in politicians and trial lawyers pockets, not clean up the water.

Keith Morgan, president of Poultry Partners Inc., a group of about 500 family farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.