Georgia EPD must deny the Twin Pines Mineral’s permit applications.

The Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia is world-renowned for its biological diversity. The refuge supports a vast labyrinth of cypress forests, pine islands, lily ponds, and blackwater channels, containing thousands of species, including the imperiled wood stork, eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise, and red-cockaded woodpecker.

Twin Pines Minerals, LLC is seeking to establish an 820-acre demonstration mine to strip titanium sands on Trail Ridge--adjacent to the swamp. If successful, the proposed mine could expand to 8,000 acres, threatening the Okefenokee swamp’s water levels, increasing wildfire risks, and harming hundreds of species that call the Okefenokee’s wilderness home.

This may be the public’s last chance to prevent this mine on the swamp's border. The Georgia EPD has issued draft permits. If these permits are finalized, mining will commence. But the fight is not over, and these permits can still be denied.

Please urge EPD to permanently reject Twin Pines’ permit application as inconsistent and incompatible with the protection of the Refuge.

*A personalized message is especially effective.

This message will be sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division:

Director

Jeff

Cown

Georgia Environmental Protection Division

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Georgia’s outdoor recreation and tourism economy continues to grow. The Okefenokee Swamp helps drive that growth, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, which many rural south Georgians depend on for their livelihoods. But Georgia EPD could jeopardize this economy by recklessly approving mining on Trail Ridge that will threaten Okefenokee water levels, increase wildfire risk, intensify water, light, and noise pollution, and potentially harm species in the Okefenokee and the nearby St. Marys River.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a state, national, and global treasure. Georgians and citizens from across the country have spoken out decisively. Mining on Trail Ridge adjacent to the swamp is, economically and ecologically, an unacceptable danger. Many questions are unanswered. How much water is needed to safeguard the purposes for which the federal government established the Okefenokee refuge and wilderness area? How would water level disruptions impact species in the refuge and critical habitat for endangered Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon in the St. Marys River, for which the Okefenokee is the water source?

The risks are too great. In the face of massive public opposition, Georgia EPD must deny the Twin Pines’ permit applications.

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Georgia EPD must deny the Twin Pines Mineral’s permit applications.

This message will be sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division:

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