Amazon to pay $20.5 million settlement over northeast Oregon nitrate pollution

[cbabe]

https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/03/31/amazon-to-pay-20-5-million-settlement-over-northeast-oregon-nitrate-pollution/

Amazon to pay $20.5 million settlement over northeast Oregon nitrate pollution

The tech giant has denied allegations that it contributed to contaminated groundwater in Morrow County impacting well users

BY:
ALEX BAUMHARDT
-
MARCH 31, 2026
11:49 AM
UPDATED 1:09 PM

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 is one of 17 total defendants, including 10 previously unnamed ones, in Pearson v. Port of Morrow, a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in February 2024 by several Morrow County residents who cannot drink their nitrate-contaminated water. The pollution is in part a byproduct of fertilizer-laden wastewater collected from industrial food processors and data centers at the port that is then sent out to area farms to be spread across fields.

…

The port’s wastewater, which a Capital Chronicle investigation found was overapplied in the winter for years, allowed excess nitrate to seep into groundwater that well-users in the area depend on. Many of those who rely on wells in the affected areas of Morrow and Umatilla counties are low-income and Latino. Overexposure to nitrates over time is harmful to infants and can lead to cancer and thyroid disease in people of all ages.

The nitrate-loaded wastewater also ends up at Amazon’s data center facilities at the port, where the water is used to cool computer servers running 24/7. The water heats up and condenses as it cools the computers, further elevating the concentration of nitrate it holds before also being end-use applied to area farm fields.

… more … no admission of guilt but strong denial of causing harm (ok bezos) …