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Okefenokee Wilderness Threatened by Proposed Strip Mine

Twin Pines Minerals of Birmingham, Alabama has applied for state and federal permits to strip mine for titanium and zirconium on thousands of acres next to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness in southern Georgia. 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.

Twin Pines plans to first excavate and process minerals on 2,400 acres next to the refuge to an average depth of 50 feet. Later work, continuing for as many as 30 years, would alter almost 12,000 acres. Similar mineral deposits run the entire length of Trail Ridge on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, so strip mining could potentially occur along the Refuge’s entire eastern boundary.

Water is critical to the well-being of Okefenokee, which is recognized worldwide as a Wetland of International Importance. The proposed mine could impact thousands of acres of wetlands, which would forever change the unique ecosystem of the Swamp. Wilderness values like solitude, silence, and remoteness could be impacted by the close proximity of industrial mining activity and associated development.

The Okefenokee Swamp is one of the world’s largest still intact blackwater swamp ecosystems, and provides important habitat for native wildlife such as black bears, American alligators, and red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Please urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the Okefenokee and the rare Wilderness experience it provides by rejecting the Twin Pines Minerals strip mine proposal.

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Urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the Okefenokee and the rare Wilderness experience it provides by rejecting the Twin Pines Minerals strip mine proposal.

Savannah District Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Subject: I oppose the Twin Pines Minerals Proposal

Message:

Dear Savannah District Commander, I oppose the proposal by Twin Pines Minerals to develop a mine at the edge of the Okefenokee Wilderness and National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Please do NOT approve any of the applied-for permits. The mine proposal calls for using drag lines to excavate and strip mine land along the Refuge and Wilderness to a depth of 50 feet over 2,400 acres in its initial stages, and eventually strip mine up to 12,000 acres. This action threatens the sensitive hydrology that created and maintains the Okefenokee Refuge and Wilderness. The mining proposal with its noise, air pollution, and loss of wetlands also threatens many other wilderness values of the Swamp, including solitude, silence, and remoteness in the Okefenokee Wilderness. The 1964 Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136) requires the federal government to protect the wilderness character of the Okefenokee Wilderness. Please do not approve any permits for this destructive project. Thank you.

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Okefenokee Wilderness Threatened by Proposed Strip Mine

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