A data center in Morrow County, eastern Oregon, has been linked by local officials and residents to a surge in rare cancers, miscarriages, and serious organ damage.

 

 

This is very bad news.

A data center in Morrow County, eastern Oregon, has been linked by local officials and residents to a surge in rare cancers, miscarriages, and serious organ damage. 

 

Former county commissioner and cattle rancher Jim Doherty began investigating after noticing unusual medical conditions across the county’s roughly 45,000 residents. Testing of 70 household wells found that 68 exceeded federal nitrate limits in drinking water, with Doherty reporting multiple miscarriages, kidney removals, and a non‑smoker who developed a cancer typically associated with smoking. Initially blamed on industrial megafarms, the pollution was later tied to the combined impact of agricultural runoff and wastewater from Amazon’s 10,000‑square‑foot data center, which has operated in the county since 2011. The facility, which relies heavily on groundwater for cooling, is accused of intensifying nitrate contamination throughout the local aquifer.

 

According to the reporting, megafarms in the area generate millions of gallons of nitrate‑laden wastewater that seep into the ground, while Amazon’s massive water use for chip cooling is said to “supercharge” the problem by drawing in contaminated groundwater, concentrating it through evaporation, and returning even more toxic water back into the system. In some cases, water from the data center reportedly contained nitrate levels eight times above Oregon’s safety threshold. Amazon denies that its operations have any meaningful impact on water quality, emphasizing that it does not add nitrates and uses only a small fraction of the overall water supply. However, residents and activists, including Oregon Rural Action executive director Kristin Ostrom, compare the slow and unequal response to the crisis to Flint, Michigan, arguing that politically and economically powerless communities are bearing the brunt of the health consequences. 

 

References (APA style)

Wilkins, J. (2025, November 29). *Amazon data center linked to cluster of rare cancers*. Futurism.