You, too, can do what all the Waterkeepers of Florida did, and ask the Governor of Georgia and other elected officials to stop that mine too near the Okefenokee:
https://wwals.net/?p=54109#howtocomment
And you can ask the runoff candidates for Senate and Public Service Commission, what’s your position on that mine and the Swamp? https://wwals.net/?p=54359
To: Governor Brian Kemp
206 Washington Street
Suite 203 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-1776
brian.kemp@georgia.govCc: Trey Kilpatrick, Chief of Staff
trey.kilpatrick@georgia.gov
Caylee Noggle, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations
caylee.noggle@georgia.gov
Bert Brantley, Deputy Chief of Staff, External Affairs
bert.brantley@georgia.govRe: Please stop a strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp that threatens both Florida and Georgia (PDF)
Dear Governor Kemp and staff,
On behalf of our respective organizations and our thousands of members, we are writing to express our concerns regarding the Twin Pines Minerals, LLC application number SAS-2018-00554-SP-HAR. Waterkeepers Florida is a regional entity composed of all 14 Waterkeeper organizations working in the State of Florida to protect and restore our water resources across over 45,000 square miles of watershed, which is home to over 15 million Floridians.
Georgia is all that stands between that titanium strip mine within a few miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, proposed by coal miners from Alabama. Part of the Okefenokee Swamp is in Florida, and the Swamp is the headwaters of both the St. Marys River, which forms part of the border between Georgia and Florida, and of the Suwannee River, which flows through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. Thus if the mining activities of the applicant affect the Okefenokee, or the underlying Floridan Aquifer, they may affect the quality of the waters of the state of Florida. In addition, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge promises more economic benefit to Florida than any other NWR. https://tinyurl.com/y5dws8oa
Please direct the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to thoroughly examine the five state permit applications from Twin Pines Minerals, LLC (TPM). https://wwals.net/?p=54009 The evidence indicates DNR should reject those applications. At the least, an environmental review equivalent to an Environmental Impact Statement should be conducted, with public hearings and third-party review.
The 60,000 people who wrote to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers against that mine are still opposed, despite the Corps abdicating its oversight. https://wwals.net/?p=53867
For many reasons to reject permits for this mine, see the resolution Waterkeepers Florida passed in October 2019. https://wwals.net/?p=50562
Since that resolution, even more reasons to reject that mine have been revealed. For example, the president of the mining applicant company was also a proponent of a biomass plant in Franklin County, Georgia, that caused a massive fish kill, and so much air pollution that the state of Georgia had to pass a law to stop it from burning railroad ties. For more on that and other examples, see the letter to you by our member Suwannee Riverkeeper of November 30, 2020. https://wwals.net/?p=54187
Respectfully,
Lisa Rinaman
St. Johns Riverkeeper
Board Chair of Waterkeepers FloridaJen Lomberk, Esq.
Matanzas Riverkeeper
Jen@MatanzasRiverkeeper.orgGeorgia Ackerman
Apalachicola Riverkeeper
Georgia@ApalachicolaRiverkeeper.orgJohn Cassani
Calusa Waterkeeper
Cassani@CalusaWaterkeeper.orgLaurie Murphy
Emerald Coastkeeper
Laurie@EmeraldCoastkeeper.orgMike Conner
Indian Riverkeeper
michaelaconner772@gmail.comReinaldo Diaz
Lake Worth Waterkeeper
Reinaldo@LakeWorthWaterkeeper.orgRachel Silverstein
Miami Waterkeeper
Rachel@MiamiWaterkeeper.orgAnna Laws
St. Marys Riverkeeper
StMarysRiverkeeper@Gmail.comMegan Eakins
Tampa Bay Waterkeeper
chairman@tampabaywaterkeeper.orgJohn S. Quarterman
Suwannee Riverkeeper
wwalswatershed@gmail.comJustin Bloom, Esq.
Suncoast Waterkeeper
bloomesq1@gmail.comHarrison Langley
Collier County Waterkeeper
Harrison@colliercountywaterkeeper.org
![[Map, letter, WKFL]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-12-11--wkfl-ga-gov-okefenokee/many.jpg)
![[Map: Mine, Okefenokee, Georgia, Florida, Gulf]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-12-11--wkfl-ga-gov-okefenokee/map-okefenokee-gulf.jpg)
Map: Mine, Okefenokee, Georgia, Florida, Gulf
in the
WWALS
map of all public landings in the Suwannee River Basin.
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Short Link:
I have fished /traveled the Okefenokee from Folkston to Fargo since 1956. Even had to be towed out By John Holt{if anyone remembers the man)one evening when we had motor problems. I want it protected.But when John S Quarterman uses the Washington Post as a source of information( from which the Brunswick times probably got it’s info) to disparage David Perdue he is doing more harm than good. Please stick to verifiable facts .For all you KNOW the staff may have been trying to convince the Corps to maintain oversight.Please keep up the vigilance but stick to the facts.
Not clear what your comment has to do with the post it’s on.
Anyway, maybe you can help get all the runoff candidates to state their positions.
If one or more of them did have staff do what you speculate, they may be proud to tell us. -jsq