Georgia residents are outraged over a titanium mine that could open less than three miles from the historic Okefenokee Swamp, home to 420 different wildlife.
The project was proposed by Twin Pines Minerals, which aims to extract the metal used in a range of industrial and consumer products, including paints, plastics and cosmetics.
Twin Pines, based in Alabama, said it plans to farm nearly 3,000 acres in the southeast corner, located 2.9 miles from the edge of the 640-square-mile marsh.
The company’s assurances have done nothing to assuage residents’ anger and determination to protect the nation’s largest blackwater swamp, which has remained largely untouched since European settlers arrived in America.
The Twin Pines Mineral Mine is located just 2.9 miles from the southeastern edge of the swamp.
Twin Pines applied for permits to mine about 2,400 acres in the southeast corner of the marsh, but has now amended it to cover 582 acres.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) drafted permits last month that could soon finalize the project.
But the documents also included more than 78,000 comments addressed to residents concerned about the mine and its proximity to the swamp.
Bill Sapp, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in February: “The Georgians have clearly demonstrated that they do not want this mine.
“Through public comments, petitions and rallies, people are opposing this mine because they understand the issues.
“The EPD has the authority to deny these permits because the company cannot prove that the Okefenokee and St. Marys River will not be damaged in the process.”
The Okefenokee Swamp is known as a blackwater swamp composed of slow-flowing rivers that pass through wetlands and forested swamps.
The water is tinted a transparent black color by organic compounds in plants seeping into it from nearby decaying vegetation.
The swamp was formed more than 65 million years ago and has deep roots in the community, starting with the indigenous tribes who are believed to have first called it home between 500 and 1,200 AD.
Spanish records show that at least two Timucuan villages and Spanish missions were located in or near the swamp between 1620 and 1656.
Then white settlers moved in in the early 1800s, creating what were called “swamps.”
And the ancestors of these groups still live around the marsh, which sees more than 700,000 people visit the historic site each year.
Black bears can be found in the southeastern area of Okefenokee Swamp, formed over 65 million years ago.
The American alligator lives in the swamp and Twin Pines Minerals LLC says it will mine no deeper than 50 feet so as not to harm the ecosystem.
Georgia residents are outraged by the titanium dioxide mine, fearing it will destroy the Okefenokee Swamp ecosystem, including the Redfin Pickerel fish.
Since 1937, federal protection has ensured that the Okefenokee Swamp remains largely preserved.
Its tea-colored waters, cypress forests, and flooded meadows provide habitat for alligators, bald eagles, and other protected species.
Charlene Carter said The Washington Post that his family has been there for generations.
She runs a campground and cafe on the edge of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which includes the swamp.
Twin Pines, however, promised residents new job opportunities, a “a process from mining to reclamation that is highly observable and regulated,” meaning it will replant any original native species it unearths during the mining process.
“I don’t care what they say,” Carter said. There is a lot to lose.
The mining company said the digs would not exceed 50 feet and the operations would create new jobs in the area providing a Salary of $60,000 for the average position.
Bill Sapp, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the Washington Post: “We are not against mining.
“It’s just ridiculous to create a mine right next to a national treasure like the Okefenokee.”
It is believed that indigenous tribes first took up residence there between 500 and 1,200 AD.
Okefenokee is home to more than 420 animals, including fish, amphibians and reptiles, as well as the camouflage owl scopscowl.
Twin Pines has been working since 2019 to obtain government permits to extract titanium dioxide.
News of the proposal sparked concern among federal scientists who warned that mining near the bowl-shaped rim of the Okefenokee could harm the marsh’s ability to hold water.
The Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in a five-page response to the Army Corps in 2019: “We are concerned that the proposed project presents substantial risks of significant environmental impact.
“If impacts occur, they may not be able to be reversed, repaired or mitigated. »
Twin Pines said The Washington Post that he plans to “leave the earth in a better state than we found it.”
According to the company, this will be done by only mine a small portion of the property at any given time and would advance 100 feet per day, saying the average time each portion of the mine is open is five days.
According to a 2023 studyTitanium dioxide has also been shown to cause lung cancer in animals and has been classified as a Group 2B carcinogen – suspected carcinogen – by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Endangered species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, wood storks, indigo snakes and others currently inhabit the marsh and if the area is logged it could destroy the ecosystem.
Endangered species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, wood storks, indigo snakes and others currently inhabit the marshes.
The planned Twin Pines mine will be located 2.9 miles from the Trail Ridge Refuge and scientists say it would damage the marsh’s hydrology.
The Georgia Municipal Association adopted the Okefenokee Protection Act in January to prevent any mining operations on Trail Ridge, citing concerns that the mines would generate “significant volumes of wastewater,” causing droughts and resulting wildfires.
The state held a public hearing earlier this month that was attended by nearly 300 people and 100 people spoke out against the mine.
“This mining operation is nothing but greed,” Matthew Gobbi, a resident who visits Okefenokee twice a week, said at the meeting.
“I have not spoken with a single good-natured human being about this mine. It’s exactly the opposite,” he continued.
“Everyone who loves and cherishes the Okefenokee is deeply opposed to it. I am among hundreds of thousands of visitors and thousands of local residents and more than 40 conservation organizations who lament in their hearts what the mine.
This isn’t the first time a mining company has tried to break new ground in search of the massive titanium deposits at the base of Trail Ridge.
In the 1990s, DuPont submitted a plan to build a titanium dioxide mine on tens of thousands of acres near Okefenokee, but then-Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt argued against the mine, saying at the time that it was “not compatible” with the neighboring ecosystem.
Babbitt, who worked under the Clinton administration, urged DuPont to look for titanium elsewhere, saying it is a “common mineral…while the Okefenokee is a very rare swamp.”
A similar stream of complaints is being filed against Twin Pines with Josh Marks, an environmental attorney who has fought mining near the marsh, calling the proposed permits a “death warrant” for the marsh.
He added that mining so close to the Okefenokee is “a disaster waiting to happen.”
“We are not against mining,” Bill Sapp, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the Post.
“It’s just ridiculous to create a mine right next to a national treasure like the Okefenokee.”
Dailymail.com has contacted Twin Pines Minerals LLC and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge for comment.