A federal judge has cleared the path for a lawsuit accusing the Port of Morrow, a power company, and agricultural businesses of polluting the groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin to move forward.

In a 30-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon sided with a group of Eastern Oregon residents who initially filed suit in 2024. Simon scheduled a three-week jury trial to begin in May 2027.

These Lower Umatilla Basin residents are suing Lamb Weston Holdings, Madison Ranches, the Port of Morrow, Threemile Canyon Farms, Portland General Electric and Columbia River Processing.

They accuse these businesses of violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a law that sets standards for the disposal of solid and hazardous waste.

“This ruling is a significant win for the thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties who have waited years for safe drinking water and for someone to be held accountable,” said Steve Berman, an attorney representing the residents, in a statement.

The seven residents suing are seeking class action status for the case — a move that would open it up to include thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties whose well drinking water has been contaminated with nitrates.

Fed up with slow fix, Oregon residents sue businesses over nitrate pollution

The Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, or LUBGWMA, is a 550-square-mile area in northern Morrow and northeastern Umatilla counties.

In 1990, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality designated it a “groundwater management area” because of the high nitrate levels in the groundwater.

Nitrate is colorless, odorless and tasteless. Drinking it in excessive amounts can lead to miscarriages, respiratory infections and thyroid dysfunction. It can be especially harmful to infants.

Many residents in the region rely on domestic private wells for drinking water, but over the last few years, some have had to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and bathing.

The decades-long crisis has long been linked to the nearby food processors and farms that use nitrogen-rich fertilizers that then seep into the Lower Umatilla Basin.

In his ruling, Simon allowed the plaintiffs to proceed with their claims of negligence, trespass and nuisance under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

The defendants being sued had filed a motion to dismiss the claims.

In court filings, the businesses had also asked the court to dismiss claims that they’d engaged in a “civil conspiracy” with the port seeking “economic activity using methods that pollute groundwater” in the basin.

Those claims allege they knowingly applied nitrogen-rich fertilizer on fields at much higher rates than what crops can naturally absorb.

The businesses had argued the people suing had not sufficiently alleged a civil conspiracy under Oregon law, and that without a well-pleaded conspiracy, those residents had failed to “plausibly allege standing and injuries traceable” to the defendants.

But Simon ruled the plaintiffs did present enough evidence against the businesses for the conspiracy claim to move forward during the trial.

“The allegations give rise to the plausible inference that [Columbia River Processing] CRP, Lamb Weston, Madison, and PGE acted in concert with the Port by generating and sending high-nitrate wastewater that they knew would be improperly disposed of by the Port,” Simon wrote in the ruling.

In the lawsuit, the residents are seeking compensation, an environmental remediation program, and a medical monitoring program to diagnose and keep track of the health of residents exposed to nitrate-contaminated water.

In March, Amazon Data Services agreed to a $20.5 million settlement over allegations arising from its data centers in the region.

That settlement, which came out of the same lawsuit, is currently pending court approval. Amazon has denied that it contributed to the nitrate crisis.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/09/federal-judge-clears-path-for-eastern-oregon-nitrate-pollution-lawsuit/