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.gov
Cc: 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.gov
Re: Please stop a strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp that threatens both Florida and Georgia
(PDF)
Dear Governor Kemp and staff,
Map, letter, WKFL
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 Continue reading →