One of 17 defendants in a lawsuit over nitrate-contaminated groundwater in Oregon’s Umatilla and Morrow counties will pay $6.2 million to resolve legal claims against it. 

Madison Ranches Inc. recently reached an agreement with the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case Pearson v. Port of Morrow, according to a release. The payment will be deposited into a settlement fund and Madison Ranches has also agreed to continue using best management practices in the management of water it receives from the Port of Morrow and others. 

“We appreciate Madison Ranches’ commitment to the community as shown in this settlement. Rather than fighting about who made the mess, Madison Ranches stepped up to help address the nitrate pollution problem,” said Steve Berman, managing partner and founder of Hagens Berman and co-counsel for the proposed class of plaintiffs, in a statement.  

The plaintiffs will continue their litigation against the 16 remaining defendants, which include the Port of Morrow, Lamb Weston, Threemile Canyon Farms, Portland General Electric and Columbia River Processing. 

One of the original defendants, Amazon, has since March been working out a settlement with the plaintiffs for $20.5 million. The online retailer has denied that it contributed to any groundwater contamination in the area. 

The suit alleges the defendants polluted a groundwater aquifer for years with fertilizer-laden wastewater collected from industrial food processors and data centers at the port. That water was sent out and over-applied to area farm fields for years, billed as a beneficial waste-water reuse program that the plaintiffs said became a toxic dumping scheme. 

The plaintiffs – Michael Pearson, Michael and Virginia Brandt, and James and Silvia Suter – secured class action status for the case on behalf of all affected residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties who own or rent their homes, which could bring up to 45,000 other plaintiffs into the suit.  

The Oregon Capital Chronicle, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Oregon state government and politics, contributed to this report.