Legal
Filed for Black Warrior Riverkeeper by Mark Martin Esq, with support from the staff, Riverkeeper's legal actions address significant and ongoing pollution violations throughout the Black Warrior River watershed, the largest river system entirely contained within Alabama, "the River State." Riverkeeper's legal actions from 2002–2007 have addressed over 15,500 Clean Water Act violations in the Black Warrior basin. Riverkeeper normally tries to negotiate effective solutions with polluters, but sometimes they reject our attempts at negotiation, and lawsuits become necessary. Litigation is not always the most popular route, but it is often the best way to convince violators to cease burdening waterways and the public with harmful wastes. Riverkeeper believes that clean water is a basic human right that polluters have effectively stolen from countless citizens in the Black Warrior basin. While many of the people Riverkeeper represents -- those in the Black Warrior watershed -- lack financial or political clout, the law is the law and Riverkeeper intends to use it to maintain and restore the recreational opportunities, drinking water, fisheries, scenery, and prosperity that clean waterways offer.
