Groups speak out against proposed titanium mine

VALDOSTA — More than two dozen organizations — local, regional, statewide in Florida and Georgia, national, and international — have expressed opposition to the titanium mine that would be far too close to the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge provides boating, birding, fishing and hunting nearby to the tune of more than $60 million a year and more than 700 jobs, making it the NWR of most economic benefit to Georgia and Florida. The Okefenokee Swamp is a unique ecological treasure, and is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers. The burden of proof is on the miners, and they have not met it.

Interested individuals can still file a comment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If the Corps actually issues a permit, which they may in the next few weeks, anything filed can be used in any ensuing lawsuit.

Exactly how many organizations oppose that strip mine is hard to say, since some, such as Waterkeepers Florida, represent others all over a state, and Waterkeeper Alliance has more than 350 member organizations worldwide. The Georgia Water Coalition put the Okefenokee Swamp on its 2019 Dirty Dozen worst threats to Georgia’s waters because of this proposed mine, and GWC has more than 250 partner organizations. Southwings volunteer pilots have flown several times over the mine site, around the Okefenokee Swamp, and down to where Twin Pines Minerals is already under a Florida Consent Order along with Chemours for violations at four titanium strip mines in north Florida. Citizens Against Phosphate Mines obtained that Florida Consent Order.

Suwannee Riverkeeper, St. Marys Earthkeepers, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Georgia River Network, Georgia Conservancy, Environment Georgia, One Hundred Miles, Glynn Environmental Coalition, Wayne Morgan Artistry, St. Marys Riverkeeper, Satilla Riverkeeper, Flint Riverkeeper, Savannah Riverkeeper, Ogeechee Riverkeeper, Waterkeepers Florida, Our Santa Fe River, Dogwood Alliance, Georgia Women and those who stand with us, Friends of Georgia State Parks, National Parks Conservation Association, National Wildlife Refuge Association, The Nature Conservancey, The Wilderness Society, Wilderness Watch, Waterkeeper Alliance, Georgia Water Coalition, Citizens Against Phosphate Mines, and Southwings have all been invaluable.

Plus both U.S. EPA and Georgia EPD filed comments saying the miners’ application was missing much key information. GA-EPD even explicitly cited Suwannee Riverkeeper’s comments. Even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Okefenokee NWR, filed comments about the ecological and economic value of the Swamp and the application’s lack of information.

For much more information, see: wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/.