POLITICAL ROUNDUP: Bill aims to hold grow operations accountable

Apr. 22—On April 20, Senate Bill 1676, authored by State Sen. Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher, passed the Oklahoma House. The measure would require all applicants for a medical marijuana commercial grower license and commercial grower licensees to file with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority a bond of no less than $25,000 for each license sought or held that covers land where grow operations will be based.

OMMA may require a higher amount, depending upon the probable difficulty of reclamation with consideration for topography, hydrology, and revegetation. And some growers aren't happy.

"Most of it wasn't any new law; we were just amending a previous law. Depending on the size of the grow operation or processing facility, they would have to put a bond in place," said Rep. Bob Ed Culver, R-Tahlequah.

In the event that a grower left the facility, the state would be able to come in and clean up the site.

"A lot of these people come in and get one cutting or one harvest, make their money, and they pack up in the middle of the night and leave. We are left with the mess they leave," said Culver.

Bills like SB 1676 come in response to Oklahoma State Question 788, passed in 2018, which legalized licensed cultivation, use, and possession of marijuana for medicinal purposes. What the question does not do is legislate its implementation or the parameters for growing marijuana.

"There wasn't a lot of oversight," Culver said. "The good players in the state want it. The ones that are doing it illegally aren't fighting us, because they don't want us to know who they are."

He said 60 percent of marijuana grown in Oklahoma leaves the state and is sold on the black market.

"We want to get it set up where it's regulated and taxed," he said.

Marijuana grow operations use electricity and water, which affects how resources are allocated within a county.

"If you go to the grow sites, a lot have come in and circumvented, dug their own wells, pumped water out of creeks, and used fertilizers. Several of the grow facilities left trash. There's chemicals on the ground that are half-used. The water isn't to the specifications. This is on the grow side, if you are looking at surface water and groundwater," said Culver.

State Sen. Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee, said that presently, many commercial grow facilities are not proving to be viable, so they are shutting down their operations.

"They are leaving the facility and walking away leaving the land in disarray. The requirement of a surety bond guarantees that there will be funds available to do required reclamation of the land specific to the topography, hydrology — water, and revegetation of the land. This bond protects the people of this state from having to expend state or local taxpayer funds to clean up a private business's abandoned grow facilities," he said.

Dell Barnes, Cherokee County Democratic vice chair, said medical cannabis in Oklahoma is quickly becoming a complicated affair, and that Oklahoma lawmakers will favor large businesses over small ones.

"Relevant lawmaking seems to be largely concerned with entrenching the OMMA in all aspects of the business, with hefty fees every step of the way," said Barnes. "When it comes to state oversight, it is rather striking that agricultural feed operations — "chicken houses" — that do not meet setback requirements, etc., are routinely rubber-stamped into operation, but simple cannabis grow operations require a $25,000 bond."

He said there has to be a way to address the environmental impact of grow operations without privileging large businesses.

Calls to other political party officials weren't returned by press time.