A good outcome - but definitely not the best one
About two months ago, an editorial in this space described the conditions of a Chattahoochee tributary west of Atlanta, only about 1,000 feet from where it empties into the river. (www.ledger-enquirer.com/opinion/article31544102.html)
Those conditions were deplorable and most likely criminal. A company called American Sealcoat Manufacturing was discovered to have been dumping toxic chemicals directly into the stream, a circumstance that came to the attention of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth. Ulseth took the diplomatic approach to the problem, contacting company officials about cleaning up their act (and, presumably, the site).
But when representatives of the Riverkeeper organization went back to check, they witnessed American Sealcoat employees again dumping toxins directly into the stream. Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sued in federal court and won a $10 million judgment against American Sealcoat -- which, it was learned (surprise), no longer existed and whose owner was nowhere to be found.
As of Monday there is a positive, if not completely satisfying, resolution to this story. It's positive in the sense that somebody is taking responsibility for cleaning up the mess; it's ultimately unsatisfying because the ones who made the mess for others -- including, in part, the taxpayers of Georgia -- to clean up apparently are going to get away with it.
M&K Warehouses LLC, owner of the property where American Sealcoat had been operating, has been paying for cleanup at the site since the judgment against its former tenant, under an agreement with the state Environmental Protection Division. M&K has already spent more than $500,000 on that cleanup, and its agreement with the court calls for it to finish the environmental restoration process, to pay the Riverkeeper organization's legal costs and to contribute another $50,000 to Chattahoochee watershed cleanup projects.
Ulseth expressed satisfaction with the arrangement, saying it shows that "cooperation is much more effective and successful than conflict" -- a principle apparently beyond the shriveled ethical capacity of American Sealcoat's management.
The most important issue here, of course, is the cleaning up of a poisoned stream 300 yards from a river that serves three states. That was, as it had to be, the first priority of all concerned. Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is not a law enforcement organization; neither is the EPD or M&K Warehouses. Neither, for that matter, is a federal court, at least insofar as a civil matter like this is concerned.
But it would serve the causes of both legal-financial accountability and visceral human satisfaction if the ones who deliberately caused all this damage, and then apparently just vanished back beneath whatever slimy rock they slithered out from under, could be brought to justice.
Again we're reminded that it's not a perfect world.
This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 4:18 PM with the headline "A good outcome - but definitely not the best one."