Amazon to Pay $20.5 Million in Settlement of Class Action Suit Over Pollution in Eastern Oregon

A landmark class action settlement agreement between Amazon and a group of residents in Eastern Oregon today marks the first time a Big Tech company has committed to paying damages related to public health threats allegedly exacerbated by the construction and operation of its data centers.

The $20.5 million settlement was revealed in a filing in the U.S. District Court in Pendleton submitted by attorney Steve Berman, on behalf of six Eastern Oregon residents his firm represents in an ongoing class action lawsuit over the pollution of the Lower Umatilla Basin. The basin is the only source of drinking water for as many as 45,000 residents who rely on well water in and around Morrow County. As reported in Rolling Stone in partnership with the Food & Environment Reporting Network in November, Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality has collected samples from the basin since 1991 that have shown a continual increase of nitrates, a byproduct of chemical fertilizers used by the mega farms and food processing plants in the area.

While the pollution predated Amazon’s arrival, experts say the data centers have supercharged it through the annual discharge of tens of millions of gallons of water, used to cool server equipment, much of which eventually reaches the groundwater system. That water accelerates the movement of existing nitrates through the soil and into the basin and contributes to an increase in the level of nitrate concentration in that water. Scientists believe that excess consumption of even a small amount of nitrates can do significant harm to the human body; they can cause debilitating conditions in newborns and have been linked to increased risks of cancer.