Stitt fires member of cabinet over court appearance

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Governor Kevin Stitt fired a member of his administration on Tuesday due to a court appearance.

Ken McQueen was appointed by Stitt for two roles as a member of his cabinet and the Director of the Department of Energy.

McQueen was named as a plaintiff in a long-running lawsuit over chicken waste pollution in Eastern Oklahoma.

Stitt announced he fired McQueen for attending the court proceeding on social media.

The governor wrote about his disappointment for McQueen's involvement in Oklahoma's lawsuit against Tyson Foods.

Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson took on poultry companies like Tyson because waste from chicken farms led to high phosphorus and E. coli contamination in Eastern Oklahoma waterways.

This includes recreational rivers like the Illinois River.

A federal judge found Tyson and other companies guilty of polluting.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell in Tulsa ruled in 2023 that Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and other companies polluted the Illinois River, caused a public nuisance and trespassed by spreading the litter, or manure, on land in eastern Oklahoma, and that it then leached into the river’s watershed.

The problem is that the state and those poultry companies were not able to come to a settlement agreement.

The case is ongoing two decades later.

Oklahoma State lawmakers passed new rules shielding poultry companies from lawsuits during the last legislative session that ended in May.

Stitt has already named a replacement; Jeff Starling will be the new Secretary of Energy and Environment.

Starling was the top attorney for Lagoon Water Midstream, which recycles waste water from oil and gas production.