Rural Oregonians are being forced to drink contaminated water while corporations expand unchecked.

Pollution from industrialized agriculture, confined animal feeding operations, and processed food factories, has caused a decades-long public health crisis in the Lower Umatilla Basin.

Planning officials in Oregon’s Morrow County recently approved a proposal from Amazon to build a data center campus with buildings encompassing 816,000 square feet just east of the Boardman Airport. 

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Eli Kern

Morrow County residents alleged getting sick after Amazon contributed to nitrate pollution by trying to cool the companies' computers at their data centers.

Amazon has settled with the residents of Morrow County, Oregon, on Tuesday, agreeing to pay $20.5 million for the company’s alleged contributions to the region’s nitrate pollution from its data centers.

PENDLETON – Legal counsel representing residents in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area announced a preliminary $20.5 million settlement with Amazon Data Services on Tuesday, addressing a lawsuit that alleged the company’s data centers contributed to nitrate contamination in Morrow and Umatilla counties.

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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.

BOARDMAN, Ore. – Amazon Data Services, Inc. settled for $20.5 million for a lawsuit related to nitrate pollution in eastern Oregon, according to community organizer organization Oregon Rural Action.

Tech giant Amazon will pay $20.5 million to settle with northeast Oregonians living with contaminated groundwater in exchange for no admission of guilt in the polluting.

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.