TULSA, Okla. - A federal judge has denied a poultry farmer's request to prohibit the state from forcing him to give a deposition in a federal lawsuit over water quality issues.

An attorney for poultry farmer Randy Allen filed the request on Friday. Attorney Ken Williams said his client's poultry farm is not in the Illinois River watershed, the target of the state's lawsuit. Rather, Allen lives in a neighboring watershed, Williams said.

Scott McDaniel, an attorney for the poultry industry, suggests that Allen is a target of Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office because he has spoken against the lawsuit Edmondson filed.

U.S. Magistrate Sam Joyner overruled Allen's request. Joyner compared his situation to the witnessing of someone running a red light, and then the state wanting to know what he saw.

"He knows about the attorney general's lawsuit," Joyner said. "So I think he's subject to examination about what he knows about the issues."

Joyner withheld judgment on a similar request by poultry farmer Bev Saunders until he can study the matter further.

Saunders's motion seeks to restrict the attorney general in his use of a video deposition. Saunders requests that the deposition be used only in the state's lawsuit against the poultry industry and not "be published anywhere else" without her written permission.

Saunders is concerned state officials will use the deposition "in a manner that will hold Mrs. Saunders up to humiliation, annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or ridicule or that will portray Mrs. Saunders in a false light," court papers filed on her behalf state.

State officials, in court filings and in response to a direct question from Joyner, would not say if they planned to use Saunders' video deposition for purposes outside of the lawsuit.

Fred Baker, an attorney for Edmondson's office, said the state does not plan to disseminate the deposition outside of the court proceedings, but it would depend on what the deposed individuals say.

In the past year, Saunders and Allen have appeared in print and television advertising sponsored by the poultry industry. The ads promote the industry's efforts to protect the environment.

"That's why it's so surprising to hear the attorney general accuse poultry farmers of breaking the law when it comes to applying poultry litter as fertilizer to their land," Saunders states in one ad. "Truth is, they're only applying what the law allows."

Attorneys for the state counter that Saunders has provided no evidence that videotaping the deposition will humiliate her.

Saunders also "has failed to establish good cause for a protective order precluding the state from disseminating the videotape of the deposition should the state one day decide to do so," the state's pleading says.

The state has requested Saunders bring three types of documents to the depositions.

The categories include those that pertain to her knowledge of the conduct and practices of the Oklahoma poultry industry, including farms located in the Illinois River watershed.

The state, led by Edmondson, sued the 13 poultry companies in 2005 claiming they are legally responsible for the handling and disposal of poultry waste that has damaged portions of the Illinois River watershed located in Oklahoma .