A landmark class action settlement between Amazon and a group of residents in Eastern Oregon marks the first time a Big Tech company has agreed to pay damages related to public health threats. which were allegedly exacerbated by the construction and operation of its data centers.
The $20.5 million settlement was disclosed in a filing in U.S. District Court in Pendleton by attorney Steve Berman on behalf of six Eastern Oregon residents. His firm represents her in an ongoing class action lawsuit over pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin. The basin is the sole source of drinking water for up to 45,000 people who rely on well water in and around Morrow County. As ROLLING STONE, in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, reported in November, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has been taking samples from the basin since 1991 – and they show a steady rise in nitrates, a byproduct of the chemical fertilizers used by the region’s large-scale agricultural and food processing operations.
Although the pollution began before Amazon’s arrival, experts say the data centers have accelerated it massively by discharging tens of millions of liters of water every year that is used to cool the server systems – much of which ends up in the groundwater system. This water drives the movement of pre-existing nitrates through the soil and into the pool, increasing their concentration in the water. Scientists assume that even small amounts of nitrates can cause significant harm to the human body: They can cause serious illnesses in newborns and are also associated with an increased risk of cancer.
Amazon denies all allegations
Amazon, for its part, “denies each and every one of Plaintiffs’ allegations of wrongdoing and harm, including, but not limited to, the allegation that ADS caused the alleged contamination of ground, surface or drinking water in or around the [Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area] contributed,” the submission states. “[Amazon] enters into this Agreement to resolve all claims of Plaintiffs and Settlement Class Members relating to the alleged contamination of the LUBGWMA… solely to avoid the burden and expense of litigation.”
Amazon, which opened its first data center in Morrow County in 2011, now operates 13 such facilities in and around the basin, according to the filing.
The company is one of several defendants in the case, along with several major agricultural and dairy companies, including Lamb Weston and Threemile Canyon Farms, a local utility company, and the Port of Morrow, which manages the county’s wastewater system. Amazon is the first party to reach a settlement in the case for the role its data centers may have played in accelerating basin pollution.
Where the money goes
“The lawsuit alleges that millions of gallons of wastewater [Amazons] data centers and the operations of other parties’ facilities in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area (‘LUBGWMA’) in Morrow and Umatilla counties, Oregon, contribute to nitrate contamination of groundwater in the LUBGWMA,” says the letter sent to eligible residents. The settlement would release Amazon from liability related to all aspects of its data center operations, “including the discharge of cooling water that is alleged to have resulted in the contamination of groundwater, “Surface or drinking water” in the pool contributes.
Under the settlement, which must be approved by the court after a hearing open to public comment, Amazon’s $20.5 million – after legal fees – will be divided into two main funds for all residents of the groundwater district. The first fund finances private well projects that reach deeper, less polluted levels of the aquifer – for households whose drinking water currently has nitrate concentrations above state limits. The second fund supports public water supply projects to treat and distribute clean water. An additional $30,000 will be set aside from the original settlement amount, from which the six plaintiffs will each receive $5,000 as a one-time payment for their efforts in achieving the settlement.
“I was hoping they would settle for at least over $100 million. Unless money actually goes back to those affected, I don’t know if everyone will keep their outrage to themselves. Not the people who can’t let their grandchildren drink from the garden hose, or someone struggling with cancer or a miscarriage,” said Jim Doherty, a former county commissioner who took the initiative in 2022 to declare a public health emergency in Morrow County because of the contamination to exclaim. “They’re not going to fall for the idea that the richest company in the world would pay anything for something they didn’t do. [Amazon] does it because it can’t win and because it knows it’s part of the problem.”
Voices from the affected region
“It seems like a drop in the ocean,” says Kathy Mendoza, a local resident who took early retirement in 2019 because of a debilitating joint and muscle disease that she attributes to nitrate pollution. “The money doesn’t go far considering how big the problem is.”
In response to the petition and the related allegations, an Amazon spokesperson told ROLLING STONE: “Eastern Oregon communities have struggled with groundwater quality issues for decades – long before we opened our data centers. Federal, state and local governments have worked for years to address nitrates from agricultural fertilizers, manure, sewage treatment plants and wastewater from food processing plants in the region. Our data centers draw water from the same supply as other residents, we do not add nitrates to that water, and that Water we return represents a very small fraction of the entire regional system. We disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and sought an early settlement because we wanted to spend our time and resources supporting the community rather than litigating. Establishing an independently managed water infrastructure development fund made more sense – it will now directly benefit residents. This fund will support projects ranging from public drinking water treatment infrastructure to improved private wells that access cleaner water can.”
“We welcome Amazon taking the first step toward solving the nitrate pollution problem, but the work is far from done,” Steve Berman, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said in a statement. “The parties that contributed to this problem have a responsibility to come forward and help resolve these issues. This means we will continue to pursue the case against the primary perpetrators – the Port of Morrow, Lamb Weston, Madison Ranches, Threemile Canyon Farms, Portland General Electric and Columbia River Processing.”
This article was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent nonprofit news organization.
