I’m going to agree with something a supporter of the now bought-out mine said: we need better economic solutions for south Georgia forest owners. And beyond that, for south Georgia. So counties and cities won’t be tempted by jobs promised by mines, landfills, private prisons, and pellet plants.
Drew Jones wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, June 26, 2025, Okefenokee deal exposed how Georgia’s forest policy is flawed and needs reform, Continue reading
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]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-20--okefenokee-land-deal-tpm-conservation-fund/fbmany.jpg)
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
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]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-06--tpm-bond-okefenokee/fbmany.jpg)
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
Numerous people spoke to support the Okefenokee Swamp against mining too near it, about two bills before a subcommittee of the Georgia House Natural Resources and Environment Committee (GA HNRE), on March 3, 2025.
Unfortunately, that was just a hearing, and the Committee did not vote on those bills in any later meeting, either. Which means they did not get a chance for a vote by the full House before Crossover Day. Crossover Day was Thursday, March 6, 2025, after which any bills that passed in one house crossed over to the other house for their consideration.
The good news is that it is a two-year session, so these bills are already introduced for next year: HB 561 and HB 562. Continue reading
Monday at 1PM or after the House adjourns, the Georgia House Natural Resources and Environment Committee (HNRE) will meet to consider the two bills against mining near the Okefenokee Swamp.
This is the committee where previous bills have died. So this is a very important meeting. Please contact your Georgia Statehouse Representative.
Feel free to mention that many city councils and county commissions have passed resolutions
supporting the Okefenokee Swamp against mining.
And all the Riverkeepers of Georgia and Waterkeepers of Florida have written letters.
https://wwals.net/pictures/okefenokee-resolutions/
Floridians, please ask your Georgia friends, relatives, and business associates to do the same. And you can contact those Representatives directly. Part of the Okefenokee Swamp is in Florida, and all of it is upstream from Florida, on the St. Marys River and the Suwannee River, of the Florida state song.
To find your legislator (and see below):
http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
These are the bills:
More about those bills here:
https://wwals.net/?p=67055 Continue reading
Update 2025-03-01: Georgia House Committee meeting on Okefenokee Bills Monday 1PM 2025-03-03.
Many local governments support Georgia legislation to prevent mining near the Okefenokee Swamp, and you can, too.
Please ask your Georgia Statehouse Representative to support the two bills now in the Georgia House.
More about those bills here:
https://wwals.net/?p=67055
Here are all the Georgia State Representatives whose districts include any part of the Suwannee River Basin:
https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/
Find your legislator:
http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
![[Okefenokee Bills, city & county resolutions, GA House Committee, Natural Resources & Environment]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-02-26--ga-hnre-okefenokee-bills/fbmany.jpg)
Okefenokee Bills, city & county resolutions, GA House Committee, Natural Resources & Environment
Floridians, please ask your Georgia friends and relatives to do that. And you can contact those Representatives directly. Part of the Okefenokee Swamp is in Florida, and all of it is upstream from Florida, on the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers.
Soon these bills will be heard in the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment (HNRE). Not this afternoon, despite an earlier rumor. Maybe as early as Monday. Continue reading
Update 2025-02-27: Okefenokee Bills, city and county resolutions, GA House Committee 2025-02-26.
Bipartisan sponsors have introduced two Georgia House bills to protect the Okefenokee Swamp:
These bills will not stop the current mining application before the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD). But they can stop further applications for expansion, which will make the current application much less valuable. And they can stop other mining applications, including by other companies using other mining methods.
The focus of these bills is Trail Ridge east of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is in the St. Marys River Basin. But there is no dam in the Swamp between that Basin and the watershed of the Suwannee River, which drains about 85% of the Swamp.
Please contact your
Georgia House Representative and ask them to support these bills.
https://wwals.net/about/elected-officials/georgia-house/
Floridians, please urge your Georgia friends and family to do so. And you can call or write the Georgia State Representatives yourself. Remember: this is all upstream from Florida.
![[Two Georgia House bills introduced to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, February 20, 2025]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-02-20--ga-okefenokee-bills/fbmany.jpg)
Two Georgia House bills introduced to protect the Okefenokee Swamp, February 20, 2025
The experienced mining company Chemours spilled 230,000 gallons of process water into the Suwannee River Basin in Florida a week ago.
The company that proposes to strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp for titanium dioxide, which is primarily used for white paint, is still under a Florida Consent Order for violations it caused when it was processing tailings at one of Chemours’ Florida mines.
So please ask your Georgia State Representatives to support these bills, and other methods of preventing mining near the Okefenokee Swamp. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-14: WWALS comment on Okefenokee NWR Expansion 2024-12-13.
According to a press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS):
A virtual meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 9, from 6-8 p.m., for the public to learn more about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Registration for the virtual meeting is required.
https://empsi.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sJwkU7wZRKW_WkU0QlELZgIn addition, the public comment period has been extended to Dec. 13. Input may now be submitted until Dec. 13, 2024 via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov.
Additionally, a public meeting was held Nov. 12, 2024, from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the Charlton County Annex Auditorium, 68 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia.
Here are some
pictures from that November 12 meeting.
https://wwals.net/2024/11/13/pictures-public-meeting-about-okefenokee-nwr-expansion-2024-11-12/
Remember, nobody has to sell their land or get a conservation easement. Expansion of the acquisition boundary merely makes it easier for USFWS to acquire such land if somebody wants to sell. Continue reading
Update 2024-12-09: Virtual public meeting about the minor proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge 2024-12-09.
Update 2024-11-16: Why Okefenokee NWR expansion matters in Florida –Rose Schnabel, WUFT 2024-11-16.
Chip Campbell, formerly of Okefenokee Expeditions Adventures, summed it up so everyone could understand, the
proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge:
nobody has to sell land.
According to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee, “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”
![[Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-11-12--okefenokee-nwr-expansion-meeting/fbmany.jpg)
Nobody has to sell land with Okefenokee NWR expansion, Public Meeting, Folkston, GA 2024-11-12
To paraphrase Chip’s paraphrase: the Refuge expansion is aspirational. With it, if someone wants to sell to the Refuge they can. Without it, they can’t.
The expansion does nothing to affect the strip mine application. The miners could choose to sell or donate the land before any permit. They could mine and later donate or sell the land. Or neither. But without the expansion, there is no mechanism for their land to join the Refuge.
Addressing the dozen or so people from Charlton and the other counties surrounding the Refuge, Chip said they could sell or take out a conservation easement, or not, if they are within the expansion boundary. Nobody is making them do anything. Continue reading
Update 2024-11-13: Pictures: Public Meeting about Okefenokee NWR expansion 2024-11-12.
The Public Meeting for the proposed expansion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has been changed to Tuesday, November 12, 2024, still from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Charlton County Annex Auditorium, 68 Kingsland Drive, Folkston, Georgia, according to https://www.fws.gov/refuge/okefenokee
Here’s a facebook event to remind you:
https://www.facebook.com/events/556272616789217/
This part is unchanged: “The public has until November 18, 2024 to submit input via email to Okefenokee@fws.gov”
![[Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-10-24--okefenokee-nwr-expansion-changes/fbmany.jpg)
Okefenokee NWR Expansion Public Meeting 2024-11-12, Maybe including proposed TiO2 mine site
Also, the same day the proposed expansion was announced, the miners said they had not been contacted.
Russ Bynum, AP, October 18, 2024, Proposed Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge expansion could lead to buyout of mining project, Continue reading
![[Georgia needs better economics, for forestry & rural south Georgia, Drew Jones, Charlton Co. Commission, Okefenokee Swamp & blackwater rivers]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-06-26--forests-okefenokee/fbmany.jpg)
![[Speakers on Okefenokee Bills, GA HNRE Comm. 2025-03-03, No action by Crossover Day, But already introduced for 2026]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-03-03--ga-hnre-committee-okefenokee-bills-pictures/fbmany.jpg)
![[Georgia House Committee Meeting 2025-03-03 1 PM, on Okefenokee Bills, Natural Resources and the Environment]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2025-03-03--ga-hnre-okefenokee-bills/fbmany.jpg)
![[Virtual public meeting, minor proposed expansion, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 2024-12-09, 6-8 PM]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2024-12-09--public-meeting-onwr-expansion/fbmany.jpg)