Telling the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Story

It's not the biggest success story of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK). That would be winning a $2 billion legal victory against the City of Atlanta which convinced politicians it was time to upgrade an antiquated sewer system that made the waters downstream an extension of its sewers. (It worked. Now the river downstream is healthier than ever.) But it might be the #2 or #3: How CRK responded to an ongoing toxic spill by an asphalt company that refused to stop dumping or clean up the damage... how the contamination flowed down a stream into the Chattahoochee River... and how CRK teamed up with local lawyers and media to force a cleanup. It took many many months for the case to be resolved in the courts—but it's all in a day's work for CRK.

In September 2016, CRK showed the film at their annual membership dinner in which Ambassador Andrew Young received the River Leader Award. A few weeks later the film was chosen as a semi-finalist in the Cause + Effect Georgia Progressive Film Festival, with finalists to be named in late October.

A toxic spill of asphalt materials into a creek that runs into the Chattahoochee River. A company that refuses to stop dumping the materials, then refuses to clean it up, and then leaves town. A nonprofit organization that takes charge when state regulators are unable to muster an effective response. That’s the story behind the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s efforts to stop American Sealcoat Manufacturing from dumping toxic oily material into our waterways. Over the course of two years, the Riverkeeper pursued the case, first on the ground by documenting the pollution, then through the courts. The end result? A judge handed down a record $10 million fine (payable to the U.S. Treasury if ever recovered) against the company, the owner of the industrial site agreed to a clean-up, and the Riverkeeper keeps doing its job of protecting the water supply for over 4 million people.