This story was originally posted on MyNorthwest.com
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.
A lawsuit brought by local county residents and the Port of Morrow argued Amazon contaminated the groundwater throughout the agricultural community. Amazon denied any wrongdoing and was ruled not to be the origin of the nitrate pollution, but the settlement reflected how the tech giant allegedly exacerbated the crisis with concentrated runoff from its data centers.
“Our data centers draw from the same water supply as other local residents, we don’t add nitrates to that water, and the water we return represents a very small fraction of the region’s overall system,” Amazon said in a written statement Tuesday, obtained by The Seattle Times. “We don’t agree with the allegations in the lawsuit, and we sought an early settlement because we wanted to focus our time and resources on supporting the community rather than on litigation.”
According to The Seattle Times, Amazon’s data centers in Oregon used 284 million gallons of water in 2024, including 136 million gallons supplied by the Port of Morrow (4% of the port’s total water). Most of the water evaporates after being used by the data center, leaving behind minerals such as nitrates.
“We appreciate Amazon taking the first step toward solving the nitrate pollution problem, but the work is far from over,” Steve Berman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, stated, according to The Seattle Times.
In the settlement agreement, Amazon asserted the nitrate levels from its wastewater are “negligible.”
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