The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has restored federal oversight to the proposed Twin Pines Minerals mine in southern Georgia, following a Biden administration memorandum reaffirming tribal consultation (which didn’t previously happen) as well as the reinstatement (following Trump-era rollbacks) of Clean Water Act protections for some wetlands, including those affected by the proposed mine. With federal protections now restored and state permits indefinitely shelved, Twin Pines Minerals will need to reapply for federal permits for its massive heavy minerals sand mine at the doorstep of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness. The mine will face more stringent environmental review as well as consultation with the area’s Native American tribes. Twin Pines Minerals wants to mine 12,000 acres of Trail Ridge, a prehistoric sand dune that helped create and now forms the eastern border of the Okefenokee Refuge and Wilderness. Among the concerns of mining so close to the Wilderness is that hydrologic and water quality changes will damage the Okefenokee, which is one of the world’s largest intact blackwater swamp ecosystems, and the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers that flow from Okefenokee’s placid waters. The mine would destroy over 370 acres of wetlands, pump over a million gallons a day of fresh groundwater, discharge pollutants into the air and waste into the St. Marys River basin, and disturb the Refuge with noise and light pollution. The Okefenokee Wilderness is one of the largest Wildernesses in the east, covering 353,981 out of the Refuge’s 440,000 acres. The Okefenokee is recognized worldwide as a Wetland of International Importance and a Dark Sky Park. Wilderness values like solitude, silence, and remoteness could be lost if the mine is built. Thank you to our members and supporters who have sent nearly 50,000 comments urging protection of the Okefenokee Wilderness and opposition to the Twin Pines Minerals mine! We’ll keep you posted. - Read a joint comment letter to the Army Corps of Engineers
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