On August 27, 1998, a tanker truck overturned on U.S. Route 460 in Tazewell County, Virginia near the town of Cedar Bluff. The truck released over 1,000 gallons of Octocure 554-revised, a rubber accelerant used in the manufacture of foam rubber and rug materials, into a small tributary near its confluence with the Clinch River. The spill turned the river a snowy white color and killed mussels, fish,and many other aquatic organisms for over seven miles downstream. The Clinch River is one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems in the country, home to an array of freshwater mussel species, many threatened or endangered. In 2003, the Department of the Interior and the Commonwealth of Virginia reached a $3.8 million settlement with Certus Inc., the responsible party, to recover natural resource damages and to implement restoration in the Clinch River watershed. Restoration activities began in 2004 and included a 12-year mussel propagation program, riparian habitat protection and enhancement projects, and community education and outreach.