Oregon Public Broadcasting first published this article. 

The legal team behind a lawsuit against some of Eastern Oregon’s biggest agricultural businesses is headed back to court with a new case over drinking water pollution.

On Dec. 5, the attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of four Lower Umatilla Basin residents.

The complaint accuses Portland General Electric and Columbia River Processing, a Morrow County subsidiary of Tillamook Creamery, of polluting the basin’s groundwater by sending nitrate-rich wastewater to the Port of Morrow.

The port delivers the wastewater to farms that reuse it to fertilize fields.

The Dec. 5 complaint comes on the heels of a 2024 lawsuit accusing the port, as well as several farms and food processors, of polluting the basin’s groundwater.

“We believe Portland General Electric and Tillamook need to do right by their Oregon communities and cease all practices contributing to this contamination,” according to a statement from Steve Berman, a lead attorney for the residents.

A representative from PGE declined to comment. Tillamook Creamery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nitrates are chemicals often found in fertilizers and wastewater. Consuming large quantities of nitrates can lead to illnesses like cancer and kidney disease. Babies and pregnant parents are especially vulnerable.

The state has known about Eastern Oregon’s problem with nitrate pollution for more than 35 years.

Oregon declared parts of western Umatilla County and northern Morrow County, the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area in 1990, but nitrate levels have only risen since then.

Studies have shown that the largest contributor to nitrate pollution is irrigated agriculture, which often uses fertilizer and wastewater to maximize crop yields. Excess nitrates then seep through the soil and groundwater. Food processors and livestock farms are also contributors.

The lawsuit argues that PGE’s Coyote Springs power plant and Columbia River Processing were significant polluters.

The lawsuit states that all four of the plaintiffs were harmed because they lived near farms that used PGE and Tillamook’s wastewater to fertilize crops.

Private wells, which many basin residents who live outside cities rely on for water, are especially at risk for nitrate pollution because they’re not subject to the same water quality standards as municipal systems.

Two of the plaintiffs, Michael Pearson, who is also a part of the lawsuit filed last year, and Jeffrey Fleming, are on private wells.

But the other two plaintiffs, Rosa Cavasos of Boardman and Jon Haley of Irrigon, rely on their cities for their drinking water.

The lawsuit states that both started buying bottled water after learning about local nitrate pollution. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has labeled both Boardman and Irrigon’s water systems as having “substantial nitrate risk” because of elevated levels found in the cities’ supplies.

Should a jury ultimately side with basin residents, it could require action from PGE and Tillamook, in addition to financial compensation.

The lawsuit is also seeking to certify well water owners and municipal water customers as classes that could later join the other plaintiffs, a move that could potentially add thousands more people to the lawsuit.

Although efforts are already underway to connect basin residents with clean water, the complaint asks the court to make the companies cover the costs of connecting residents to municipal water systems or digging deeper wells.

The companies would also be required to create a medical monitoring program for residents on private wells.

The basin residents filed their complaint as the 2024 lawsuit continues to wind its way through the court system.

The businesses in that case tried to get the complaint dismissed by arguing that federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over nitrate regulation. They claimed that authority belongs with state agencies like DEQ and the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

In March, a federal judge in Pendleton allowed the lawsuit to proceed and referred it to a federal court in Portland.

This story is republished from the Oregon Capital Chronicle, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Oregon state government and politics.