Amazon agreed Tuesday to pay $20.5 million to settle allegations that its data centers in Morrow County contributed to nitrate pollution that has contaminated groundwater in the agricultural community.

The new rules follow several years and attempts to address and clean up a decadeslong water pollution problem.

Although there is forward progress in Morrow County’s efforts to address drinking water access for residents, ongoing tension between stakeholders led to a public clash during one group’s recent public meeting.

Oregon recently released a progress report on the nitrate reduction plan for the Lower Umatilla Basin, where thousands of people have been living with polluted drinking water for decades. But while the state has been quick to pat itself on the back, the report shows a profound lack of progress. 

More than a year after four Oregon agencies released a plan to reduce a decades-long nitrate problem in Eastern Oregon, a lot of work remains, according to the state’s first report on its progress.

After decades of farm and food processing pollution contaminating groundwater in northeast Oregon, state regulators are proposing new monitoring and testing rules for large farms in the area.