A “green” company. A poisoned town. A feeling she'd been here before.

Why is a “green” company, from a green country, spewing toxic chemicals at West Virginia residents — including children — and into a treasured environment? Why is our government helping that company, and not us? And why do I feel like I've been down this road before?

These questions inspired this documentary film — and the formation of Train Whistle Productions LLC.

Hi. I'm Maureen. In my journey from Washington, DC to Harpers Ferry, WV, I discovered that my old and new homes are connected by more than train tracks. For years, the residents of Jefferson County have been fighting a big polluter — Rockwool, a Danish maker of mineral-wool insulation, headquartered in Copenhagen, with 45 plants worldwide.

I'd seen it before. I fought CSX — the freight-rail giant that wanted to run ever-more hazardous cargo, at ever-higher speeds, through tunnels less than a mile from the U.S. Capitol. While CSX touted its safety record at a DC Council hearing on April 30, 2014, one of its trains derailed in Lynchburg, Virginia — during the testimony — dumping nearly 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude into the James River.

The agencies approved the tunnels anyway, over years of well-researched community objections. I sued. And when I learned about the fight in Jefferson County, I was stunned to see Rockwool running many of the same plays. So my co-director, Jonathan, and I followed the playbook across the ocean — to the French village of Courmelles, and to Copenhagen itself.

This film exposes how big polluters work behind the scenes with governments to prioritize profits over people and the environment — while pretending to consider public comment. Using an international polluter as a case study, it explores this playbook and “democracy-washing,” in the U.S. and beyond.