The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed expanding the boundaries of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Opponents of a proposed mine near the swamp want the feds to “think bigger.” Joe Cook/Georgia River Network
A state House subcommittee hosted a public hearing Monday to consider legislation designed to protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from future mining projects encroaching on North America’s largest blackwater swamp.
The House Natural Resource and Environment Subcommittee heard Monday from the opponents and supporters of two House bills that ranged from creating five-year moratorium on mining permits along the Okefenokee Swamp’s Trail Ridge to an outright ban on the state issuing permits along the property that serves as the hydrological divide between the swamp and refuge that straddles the Georgia-Florida border.
One of the two bipartisan Okefenokee bills discussed Monday, House Bill 562, which proposes a five-year moratorium on the state issuing surface mining permits along the Okefenokee Swamp’s Trail Ridge while experts evaluate the potential to lower water levels.
The moratorium bill is sponsored by Thomasville Republican Rep. Darlene Taylor, who also presented arguments Monday. House Bill 561, the so-called Okefenokee Protection Act, would place a permanent ban of future mining along Trail Ridge.
The opposition to the measures came from representatives for Twin Pines, a local county commissioner, state legislator and the owner of a local timber company.
They argued that the moratorium infringes on property rights and undermines the Georgia Environmental Protection Department’s expertise and cited the economic benefits of mining and the potential for safe mining while digging for heavy minerals.
Taylor urged the legislative committee members to pass her bill intended to block the EPD from approving permits to stripmine along the natural treasure that serves as a natural dam to the swamp and was once the home where the Muscogee Creek Nation thrived. The Okefenokee Swamp, a 440,000-acre Blackwater wetland in Georgia, is home to more than 1,000 species and is a significant tourist attraction, contributing $90 million annually to the economy.
“I’m just a little old lady from south Georgia, not an engineer or any ecologist, not a forester, but I have been there,” Taylor said. “Some of my fondest memories as a child involve visiting, enjoying the beauty, and I want that for my grandchildren and for your grandchildren. I also have unhappy memories of what happened to the Everglades. I grew up in Miami and witnessed the devastation and the world that was lost to us forever.”
The fight over surface mining near the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge has intensified since 2019 when an Alabama-based company, Twin Pines Minerals, went public with its plan to mine for titanium oxide and zirconium just outside the current refuge’s boundaries. Neither bill would directly impede Twin Pines plans for a demonstration mine that is currently in the final permitting review stages under the EPD.
Georgia House lawmakers float bipartisan bill to protect Okefenokee Swamp from new mining efforts
State lawmakers have debated legislation intended to protect the swamp from strip mining the past few years, but the legislation failed to gain traction.
If either bill is passed, it could hinder Twin Pines’ ability to receive permits to mine beyond its initial 584 acres of Trail Ridge and also prevent future companies from surface mining along the ridge.
Charlton County Commissioner Drew Jones, who represents an area that is home to the swamp, defended the economic boost that good paying mining jobs would bring to a region that struggles economically. He cited Charlton’s public school system providing every student free lunch and a county’s $13 million annual budget relying on $3 million in taxes from a landfill, $600,000 from a prison and $200,000 from a mine that’s been around a decade.
The mines employ machine operators, truck drivers, chemists, engineers and other types of trade jobs, Jones said. The supporters of banning or placing a moratorium on future Trial Ridge mining are making overblown claims about the dangers of Twin Pines plan to perform surface mining along the ridge, said Jones, who is a forest land manager for Toledo Manufacturing Co.Toledo Manufacturing controls about 50,000 acres near the swamp.
He urged legislators to ignore speculation and allow the EPD to make a determination.
Rhett Jackson, a professor of water resources at the University of Georgia, referenced a a letter from several prominent scientists who cited problems with the testing conducted by the state EPD and with the claims from Twin Pines that the mining would not place a shallow swamp at further risk, Jackson said.
Josh Marks, president of Georgians for the Okefenokee and an environmental lawyer, also argued that the EPD’s analysis is flawed while imploring the Legislature to pass both bills.
“I’ve been involved with Okefenokee protection and mining for 28 years starting in 1997,” Marks said. “When the DuPont Chemical Company came down to the Okefenokee and wanted to mine the entirety of Trail Ridge, there were enormous amounts of scientific discussions back then indicating that mining the dam that helped create and maintain the swamp was a terrible idea.”
State Rep. Robert Dickey, a Musella Republican, questioned Marks about why the Legislature should potentially override the EPD’s authority to decide if a mining permit should be granted along Trail Ridge.
“I just don’t think the Legislature has the expertise to evaluate each one, one-by-one on the facts of each site and the different types of economic development,” he said.
Joe Hopkins, owner of timber company Toledo Manufacturing, recommended that the state EPD’s scientists and other experts be allowed to properly review mining permit applications.
Hopkins said he would support an intensive study on the effects of various types of mining along the ridge, but is opposed to bothr HB 561 or HB 562.
“We need to base a decision on science, not emotions or the economic and political power of environmental nongovernmental organizations and their massive letter writing campaigns, which are very effective,” Hopkins said. “They have done a great job on this and the media campaigns that they have put forth, even to the point of character assassination tactics on me.”
Barbara Borquw. a past president of the Garden Club of Georgia, said that the scientific consensus is that mining will lower the swamp’s water level.
“The question is just how much the mining company has experts that will say, ‘Don’t worry, trust us, it’ll be OK,’” she said. “However, you have heard other experts warn of serious dangers. We cannot count on Mother Nature to always be kind.”
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