Incorporated in June 8, 2012, WWALS Watershed Coalition, Inc. (WWALS) is ten years old.
Since December 2016, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER® is a project and staff position at WWALS as the Member of Waterkeeper Alliance® for the Suwannee River Basin.
Here’s what we’ve been doing all that time.
![[Outings and Water Quality Testing]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-01-01--wwals-accomplishments/many.jpg)
Follow this link for WWALS Accomplishments:
https://wwals.net/about/wwals-accomplishments/
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!
Dave Williams, Capitol Beat News Service, in Tribune & Georgian (Serving CAMDEN County, Georgia Since 1894), Mine faces roadblock at Okefenokee Swamp,
ATLANTA—The Alabama company looking to open a titanium mine near the Okefenokee Swamp is being confronted with an additional hurdle.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has Continue reading
Hahira, GA, June 5, 2022 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has reversed its October 2022 abdication of oversight over the proposed titanium strip mine site too near the Okefenokee Swamp. That puts Twin Pines Minerals back to re-applying for a USACE permit, in addition to its permit applications to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD).
![[Okefenokee Swamp, Mine site, Ossoff, Connor]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-03--usace-tpm-okefnokee/many.jpg)
Okefenokee Swamp, Mine site, Ossoff, Connor
This Friday, Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, issued a memorandum revoking the previous decision by USACE that said there were no Waters of the U.S. related to the proposed mine site. He said the Muscogee Creek Nation had not been properly consulted, despite their request for such consultation. Twin Pines Minerals must resubmit an application if they still want to mine there.
“The Okefenokee is a sacred natural resource. It is a wildlife refuge that must be protected,” said U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, May 6, 2021. https://wwals.net/?p=55536
“Thanks to Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff for Continue reading
Update 2022-06-05: WWALS Press Release, Army Corps resumes oversight; miners have to reapply for strip mine too near Okefenokee Swamp.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has reversed its October 2022 abdication of oversight over the proposed titanium strip mine site too near the Okefenokee Swamp. That puts Twin Pines Minerals back to re-applying for a USACE permit, in addition to its permit applications to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD).
![[Michael Connor. Photo: Indianz.com 2022-02-14--indianz-michael-connor]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-03--usace-tpm-okefnokee/2022-02-14--indianz-michael-connor.jpg)
Michael Connor. Photo: Indianz.com 2022-02-14
Like Sen. Ossoff, you can help stop a strip mine proposed far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St Marys Rivers, and the mine sits on top of the Floridan Aquifer from which we all drink.
Senator Jon Ossoff is advocating for the protection of the Okefenokee swamp, Kyra Purvis, WFXL, Wednesday, May 25th 2022,
![[Sen. Ossoff at the Okefenokee Swamp 2021-05-14]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-05-25--ossoff-okefenokee/21.05.14-Okefenokee-4-1024x683.jpg)
Sen. Ossoff at the Okefenokee Swamp 2021-05-14
Senator Jon Ossoff is advocating for the protection of the Okefenokee swamp and its national wildlife refuge.
The swamp is currently being looked at by Twin Pines Minerals LLC as a place for titanium mining.
Ossoff is asking for a joint effort between both parties and is calling on all environmental agencies to protect one of Georgia’s most precious natural resources.
“Our state may lose the Okefenokee swamp, this precious natural resource, unless EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the Army Corps and Georgia’s environmental protection division take action to stop it,” said Ossoff in his call to action, “Overwhelmingly the people of Georgia and of the local community treasure the Okefenokee swamp. But I’m sounding the alarm because we need an all hands-on deck effort now to bring the pressure to bear necessary to save the Okefenokee swamp from destruction.”
Ossoff says he has Continue reading
Please ask Georgia legislators to pass HB 1289 against mining near the Okefenokee Swamp. Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, an Alabama-based company operated by people with a history of misrepresentation and pollution, is proposing a mining operation that threatens the Okefenokee Swamp and tourism-related jobs in the area, as well as the Floridan Aquifer and the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.
![[Otter, Okefenokee Swamp, 2019-12-07. Photo: Gretchen Quarterman]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-02-24--hb1289-gwc-alert/otter.jpg)
Otter, Okefenokee Swamp, 2019-12-07. Photo: Gretchen Quarterman
Floridians, you can do these things, too. The Swamp is upstream from Florida, both aboveground and through the Floridan Aquifer. You can call these Georgia legislators using the numbers in here: House and Senate.
For what’s in the bill and some other ways you can stop such mines, see Continue reading
Friday morning, February 18, 2022, at 8:00 AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the annual 11-mile Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle, this Saturday, February 19th, on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers.
We’ll also talk about how you can ask Georgia statehouse members to pass HB 1289 to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining, while you can ask the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp, and ask GA-EPD to stop that second wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it.
We’ll mention the trash situation of Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River.
When: 8:00 AM, Friday, February 18, 2022
Where:
Talk 92.1 FM radio, Scott James drivetime show
http://talk921.com/
Listen: Continue reading
On newly-proclaimed Okefenokee Swamp Day, a bipartisan bill to ban mining on Trail Ridge by the Okefenokee Swamp appeared in the Georgia legislature: HB 1289.
![[Bill, Proclamation, Trail Ridge]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-02-08--ga-hb-1289-okefenokee-trail-ridge-mining/many.jpg)
Bill, Proclamation, Trail Ridge
You can ask Georgia Governor Kemp to get the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) to deny the permit request from Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, for a titanium dioxide strip mine within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is the headwaters of the St. Marys and Suwannee Rivers. Or ask your city or county government to pass a resolution supporting the Swamp and opposing the mine, as half a dozen have already done.
Or write directly to GA-EPD: TwinPines.Comment@dnr.ga.gov
Or use this convenient Georgia Water Coalition action alert form to ask your statehouse delegation to pass HB 1289 and to ask GA-EPD to deny the permits.
Update 2022-01-26:
Videos: Mayor and Chairman’s Paddle, Trash, Swamp: Suwannee Riverkeeper on Scott James Radio 2020-01-20 2022-01-20.
Update 2022-01-19: Changed to 8:30 AM.
Thursday morning at 8AM 8:30 AM, Suwannee Riverkeeper will be on Scott James Talk 92.1 FM radio, about the annual 11-mile
Chairman and Mayor’s Paddle on the Little and Withlacoochee Rivers coming up in a week,
the trash situation of Sugar Creek and the Withlacoochee River,
and how you can
ask the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to stop a strip mine far too near the Okefenokee Swamp,
and ask GA-EPD to stop that second wood pellet plant in Adel while you’re at it.
We may also talk about water trails, water quality testing, and who knows what else.
![[Suwannee Riverkeeper and Scott James, 92.1 FM, 2021-10-19]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2021-10-19--scott-james-radio/MVI_0233-08-57-sponsors-of-wwals-boomerang-including-dry-pocket-2021-01-23.jpg)
Suwannee Riverkeeper and Scott James, 92.1 FM, 2021-10-19
When:
8 AM 8:30 AM, Thursday, January 20, 2022
Where:
Talk 92.1 FM radio, Scott James drivetime show
http://talk921.com/
Listen: Over the air, or through the radio show’s own website, or through any of several online listening services.
Event: facebook
For more WWALS outings and events as they are posted, see Continue reading
Dozens of scientists across the U.S. have written a letter spelling out dangers of strip mining near the Okefenokee Swamp.
They couldn’t cover everything, but they found scientific evidence running from habitat loss, fire risk, and lowering the Floridan Aquifer, to dark skies, tourism, and economy, including: “Mining will impact the water quality of the Okefenokee Swamp and downstream rivers, including the St Mary’s and Suwannee Rivers, through release of stored chemicals, including toxic heavy metals.”
You can mention the scientists’ letter when you ask the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to deny the miners’ permit applications.
![[Heavy Mineral Mining In The Atlantic Coastal Plain-0006]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-09-12--wwals-usace-tpm/Heavy-Mineral_Mining_in_the_Atlantic_Coastal_Plain-0006.jpg)
The mine site is labeled Saunders Tract in the middle of this map. See Figure 5.
The situation is no different from when DuPont tried to mine next to the Swamp twenty years ago. As Gordon Jackson points out in The Brunswick News (December 9, 2021), “The argument two decades ago and today is there has never been a comprehensive study to show how much of an impact, if any, disturbing the layered soil would have on the refuge.”
Naturally, the miners disagreed, according to Emily Jones for WABE (December 1, 2021): Continue reading
![[Article]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-06-09--usace-okefenokee/many.jpg)
![[Many]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2022-02-18--scott-james-radio-mayor-chairmans-paddle/many.jpg)