Category Archives: Titanium

Miners bought out near Okefenokee Swamp 2025-06-20

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Very good news today! The coal miners from Alabama have been bought out, ending mining on their specific property. First, the thanks. Then the rest of the story.

Many thanks to The Conservation Fund for buying out Twin Pines Minerals, LLC (TPM), and to the James M. Cox Foundation and the Holdfast Collective (Patagonia) for helping fund that acquisition. Thanks to everyone who helped, and to everyone who has opposed this bad mining proposal since at least 2019.

There is a direct path to adding this land into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR), since the Okefenokee NWR Minor Acquisition Boundary Expansion was approved by USFWS 2025-01-03. Although given the current chaotic state of the federal government, keeping that land in private hands for now might be prudent.

[Miners bought out near Okefenokee Swamp 2025-06-20, Twin Pines Minerals, by The Conservation Fund]
Miners bought out near Okefenokee Swamp 2025-06-20, Twin Pines Minerals, by The Conservation Fund

We should all celebrate!

But this land acquisition is not the end of the mining story. There is much more we can do to protect the entire Okefenokee Swamp, the blackwater rivers of south Georgia, and to pass a constitutional amendment for Right to Clean Water, Air, and Soil.

Directly to the north of TPM’s parcels is much more land, Continue reading →

Mercury found in Okefenokee alligators 2025-06-12

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The problem: “Alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp had mercury levels that were eight times higher than the other two research sites.” The other locations were Jekyll Island near Brunswick, GA, and Yawkey Wildlife Center, near Georgetown, SC. See Savannah Peat, UGA Today, June 12, 2025, New study shows alligators aren’t all that’s lurking in Georgia’s swamps,

Why this matters: “The presence of mercury in these waters not only impacts the health of the alligator but could have dangerous health effects on the other creatures relying on these waterways for food, including humans.”

Plus mercury comes down from the air not only into the waters where alligators live, but also onto nearby land, such as where the coal miners from Alabama want to strip mine for titanium dioxide (TiO2) too near the Okefenokee Swamp. Such mining could stir up mercury from the soil and get it into water or back into the air. You can still tell the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) that it should deny the miners’ permit applications:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

And also probably where Chemours wants to expand its Trail Ridge South TiO2 mine onto land owned by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). The official comment period has expired, but you can still write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) about the Chemours permit applications:
https://wwals.net/?p=67629

[High levels of mercury found in alligators, Okefenokee Swamp, UGA 2025-06-12]
High levels of mercury found in alligators, Okefenokee Swamp, UGA 2025-06-12

Where does the mercury come from? “For instance, precipitation is the dominant source of environmental mercury deposition in other systems, and the hydrology of OS is dominated by precipitation and runoff with an average annual rainfall of 132.23 cm (Brook and Hyatt 1985, Wang et al., 2019, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 1945–2021). Okefenokee is also in close proximity to several industrialized power plants, which have the potential to contribute to atmospheric Hg deposition (Porter 2000, Sherman et al., 2012).”

The actual power plants are not named in that paper or its sources, but we know the main culprit: Georgia Power’s Coal Plant Scherer, near Macon, Georgia, Continue reading →

Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land 2025-06-16

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Today, I got about 1.4 gigabytes of files in response to the FOIA I sent to the Army Corps on May 28. Unfortunately, this additional information arrived after the June 12 deadline for comments on the Chemours application to mine for titanium dioxide on SRWMD land. WWALS already sent a letter on that day.

If the Public Hearing happens that we and others called for, we can bring up any questions that come out of this additional information.

[Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land. Obtained via FOIA]
Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land. Obtained via FOIA

It’s all on the WWALS website.

You can pick up the 661 megabyte zip file.

Or you can look in the extracted subdirectories and files, starting with:

This is what I requested: Continue reading →

Questions and call for Public Hearing on Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

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Update 2025-06-16: Additional documents for Chemours permit application to mine SRWMD land 2025-06-16.

This is what I filed by the Thursday deadline as public comments on the latest Chemours mining permit application. This one is to expand the Trail Ridge South Mine onto land owned by the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). I continue to wonder why SRWMD bought this land, allegedly for conservation, if they were going to let Chemours mine on it?

Several other organizations also filed comments, some of them also calling for a Public Hearing.

[Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin --WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12]
Questions and call for Public Hearing, Chemours application to mine SRWMD land, Santa Fe River Basin –WWALS to USACE 2025-06-12

Continue reading →

Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia 2025-06-06

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The future looks cloudy for the Alabama miners.

You can ask GA-EPD to end the suspense by denying their permit application:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

Dylan Jackson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 6, 2025, Controversial Okefenokee mine project delayed as company fails to post required funds: Georgia EPD says Twin Pines Minerals has not provided the $2 million in collateral required to obtain a permit.

[Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia --AJC, June 6, 2025]
Alabama miners failed to post bond to mine near Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia –AJC, June 6, 2025
AJC posted a picture captioned in part:
“Twin Pines began storing equipment at this site in Charlton County near the Okefenokee Swamp.”
They’ve been doing that since at least 2019, as this WWALS picture shows.

Twin Pines Minerals has not produced the $2 million bond or other collateral required to receive its permit to mine titanium near the Okefenokee Swamp, a delay that comes as the company and its affiliates continue to show signs of financial distress.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division spokeswoman Sara Lips confirmed on Wednesday that Twin Pines has yet to submit the financial assurance required for permit approval. The agency requested a bond or other collateral from the company in February 2024, shortly after draft permits were released.

Continue reading →

Additional Project Drawings for Chemours application to mine on SRWMD land –USACE 2025-01-02

I got these additional figures indicate that Chemours wants to mine right up to Double Run Creek, upstream from the Santa Fe River.

I got them by following up on the Chemours application to the Army Corps for a permit to mine TiO2 on SRWMD land,

[Additional Project Drawings, Chemours application to USACE to mine on SRWMD land --SWCA 2025-01-02]
Additional Project Drawings, Chemours application to USACE to mine on SRWMD land –SWCA 2025-01-02

Chemours can’t continue mining without this permit, which it must get from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), because of the successful lawsuit by Miami Waterkeeper, St. Johns Riverkeeper, et al., to revoke the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) takeover of federal Clean Water Act permit applications.

See the third page of the USACE application form:

This project was originally review[sic] and approved by the USACE in 2020 pending the issuance of the State Water Quality Certification. Prior to USACE receiving the State Water Quality Certification, the EPA approved Florida’s State 404 Program, which became effective on Dec. 22, 2020, and all USACE pending permits were transferred to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for processing.

This project was subsequently reviewed, and Phase 1 was approved on June 6, 2022, under the FDEP State 404 Program, Permit no. ST404_137482-022. A portion of the Phase 1 approved impacts have been completed. The approval of Phase 2 is needed for Chemours to continue mining operations without any disruptions. Due to the FDEP being divested of its authority to issue State 404 Program permits on Feb 15, 2024, Chemours has requested the USACE review and approve the entire project for compliance consistency.

For that lawsuit, see Continue reading →

More about Spill from Chemours Trail Ridge South TiO2 mine SE of Starke, FL 2024-01-31

The map in this Chemours followup report about its January 31, 2024, 194,195-gallon wastewater spill seems to indicate the water went south into Double Run Creek, which goes to the Santa Fe River.

[More about Spill 2024-01-31, Chemours Trail Ridge South, TiO2 mine SE of Starke, FL, Santa Fe River Basin]
More about Spill 2024-01-31, Chemours Trail Ridge South, TiO2 mine SE of Starke, FL, Santa Fe River Basin

The latlong in the map legend, 29.8901015, -82.0506411, is on one branch of Double Run Creek. Continue reading →

Chemours wants Army Corps permit to mine TiO2 on SRWMD land, Bradford County, FL, Santa Fe River Basin 2025-05-13

Update 2025-05-28: Additional Project Drawings for Chemours application to mine on SRWMD land –USACE 2025-01-02.

Update 2025-05-16: More about Spill from Chemours Trail Ridge South TiO2 mine SE of Starke, FL 2024-01-31.

Chemours wants to mine on SRWMD land in Bradford County, FL, upstream from the Santa Fe River, on Double Run Creek which already had a tailings wastewater spill last fall.

You’ve got 30 days to comment:

The Jacksonville District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until June 12, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to John Fellows at john.p.fellows@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, Attention: John Fellows, 10117 Princess Palm Avenue, Suite 120, Tampa, FL 33610. Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.

That’s permit application number SAJ-2019-00480 (JPF).

[Chemours Army Corps application to mine TiO2 on SRWMD land, Bradford County, FL, Santa Fe River Basin 2025-05-13]
Chemours Army Corps application to mine TiO2 on SRWMD land, Bradford County, FL, Santa Fe River Basin 2025-05-13

Many of us complained back in 2019 about SRWMD allowing Chemours access through SRWMD property, but in 2021 SRWMD claimed it had no choice.

[SRWMD parcels, Bradford County Property Appraiser 2019-10-17]
SRWMD parcels, Bradford County Property Appraiser 2019-10-17

Now it’s not just access, it’s actual mining. So what does conservation mean to the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD)? Or to its parent the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)?

Here’s the problem: Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper on Welcome to Florida podcast by Craig Pittman 2025-04-08

Thanks to Craig Pittman for inviting me on his Welcome to Florida podcast, Episode 250: The Suwanee River.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1169570/episodes/16921299

The Suwannee part starts 6:15.

He spells it Suwanee with one n.

Stephen C. Foster spelled it Swanee.

We talked about the Suwannee, Santa Fe, Alapaha, Withlacoochee, New, New, Little, and Little Rivers. About sewage and cow manure, fertlizer nitrates leaching into springs and rivers causing algae blooms, the Hamilton County phosphate mine, and Titanium dioxide mines in north Florida at the top of the Santa Fe River Basin and in south Georgia too near the Okefenokee Swamp. About leaping Gulf sturgeon, Alligator snapping turtles, and beavers.

And musicians, don’t forget to send in your song to the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, part of WWALS River Revue, September 6, 2025, at the Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, Georgia.
https://wwals.net/?p=67322

[Suwannee Riverkeeper on Welcome to Florida podcast, by Craig Pittman, April 8, 2025]
Suwannee Riverkeeper on Welcome to Florida podcast, by Craig Pittman, April 8, 2025

Best selling author, award winning reporter and Florida native Craig Pittman is joined by radio personality and Florida transplant Chadd Scott to discuss the state’s history, people, politics, environment, animals, current events and weirdness. You’ll hear great storytelling and have great fun in each weekly episode.

Show Notes Continue reading →

Bradford County Local Mitigation Strategy Planning Committee 2025-03-20

Several people informed me yesterday that they were alarmed to discover there is a meeting today at the Bradford County, FL, Sheriff’s Office about flooding.

Turns out it’s at the Sheriff’s Office because that’s where this long-running committee has been meeting. It works on flooding and wildfire issues.

[Bradford County Local Mitigation Strategy Planning Committee, Sheriff's Office, Starke, FL 2025-03-20]
Bradford County Local Mitigation Strategy Planning Committee, Sheriff’s Office, Starke, FL 2025-03-20

According to the agenda, Paul Still already has them talking about Sampson River Blockages and Radium and Chemours Discharges, which were the two big topics people were concerned about. The Sampson River blockages would seem to include the so-called three-pipes dam gates under CR 225 on the Sampson River just downstream from Lake Sampson. These gates were another concern I heard: people wish SRWMD would use them to lower Lake Sampson before big rains.

Like many such committees, this one has had few participants. Maybe this week’s alarm will get more people to attend.

Apparently most people saw this notice in the local newspaper, but it was also posted on facebook by Bradford County Sheriff’s Office – Emergency Management Division, March 7, 2025,

The Bradford County Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) Planning Committee/Workgroup will meet Thursday, March 20th, 2025, at 3:00 pm in the Bradford County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office at 945B North Temple Avenue, Starke, FL 32091.

Continue reading →