Protect the Okefenokee Wilderness from mining

As you may recall, in January 2023 the State of Georgia released a draft plan for a mine proposed at the doorstep of the Okefenokee Wilderness in southern Georgia. Thousands of you wrote opposing this proposal. Now, we need your help once again!

On February 9, 2024, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) released three Twin Pines Minerals LLC draft permits, opening a 60-day public comment period. The Alabama-based mining company is attempting to open a mine that would ultimately reach 8,000 acres on Okefenokee’s Trail Ridge, the prehistoric barrier island that helped create the swamp by holding back its waters.

The comment period allows the public to voice concerns and opposition to Twin Mines' mining proposal. Please let EPD know you want the Okefenokee protected and the mining permits denied. 

At more than 400,000 acres, the Okefenokee Swamp is the largest national wildlife refuge in the eastern United States and one of the world’s largest intact blackwater swamps. These qualities help make the Okefenokee important habitat for native wildlife such as black bears, American alligators, and red-cockaded woodpeckers. 

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is also an International Dark Sky Park and a National Natural Landmark—a designation reserved for “the best examples of biological and geological features” in the country. The 354,000-acre Okefenokee Wilderness makes up almost 90 percent of the refuge and is one of the largest Wilderness areas in the East.

Water is critical to the well-being of Okefenokee, which is recognized worldwide as a Wetland of International Importance. The proposed mining of heavy mineral sands would destroy over 370 acres of wetlands, pump over a million gallons of fresh groundwater every day, discharge pollutants into the air and waste into the St. Marys River basin, and disturb the refuge with noise and light pollution. Wilderness values like solitude, silence, and remoteness could be impacted by the close proximity of industrial mining activity and associated development.

Wilderness Watch is a member of the Okefenokee Protection Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 conservation organizations representing millions of members that have joined forces to save the Okefenokee from the proposed mine and other threats. Twin Pines’ proposed mining project has already drawn an unprecedented level of opposition from the coalition and its members. So far, more than 100,000 people from all 50 states and 36 countries have voiced opposition to the mine, including thousands of Wilderness Watch members and supporters. Thank you!

Now it’s critical that we step up once again and let Georgia EPD know that jeopardizing the Okefenokee is unacceptable. Please submit a public comment opposing the proposed Twin Pines Minerals mining permits by April 9.