Scientists for the federal government say documents that Georgia state regulators relied upon to conclude a proposed mine won't harm the nearby Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge are riddled with technical errors
The two sides battling in the nearly four-year saga over whether an Alabama company should be allowed to move forward with its plans to mine the site for titanium dioxide and zirconium were allowed to make their case to lawmakers during a two-hour public hearing held Tuesday.
A company's plan to mine minerals just outside the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its federally protected wildlife refuge is a big step closer to being approved by regulators in Georgia. The state's Environmental Protection Division released a draft plan Thursday for how Twin Pines Minerals would operate its proposed mine and mitigate potential impacts to the swamp.
A member of President Joe Biden's Cabinet is urging Georgia officials to deny permits for a proposed mine near the edge of the famed Okefenokee Swamp and its vast wildlife refuge. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that the mining project poses "unacceptable risks" to the swamp's fragile ecosystem.
Conservationists are waging another legal challenge against a company’s strip-mining plans near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Georgia.
A U.S. government agency is being sued over its decision to allow a proposed mine outside the vast Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to move forward without federal permits.
Conservation groups have protested the project since it was first proposed in 2019, saying it threatens to disrupt the flow of water into and out of the environmentally and culturally important swamp.
A proposal to mine for titanium dioxide near the state's Okefenokee Swamp is attracting controversy. Alabama company Twin Pines has applied for a permit to extract minerals near the freshwater wetland and wildlife refuge — the largest blackwater wetland in North America — and residents, politicians and environmental advocates are pushing back to protect the Okefenokee.
A large U.S. mining corporation pledged on Thursday it won’t be doing business — at least for the next five years — with Twin Pines Minerals, the company poised to mine just a few miles from the Okefenokee Swamp.
Twin Pines Minerals wants to start out by conducting a 740-acre mining demonstration along Trail Ridge, which is a hydrological divide between the swamp and St. Mary's River. But it has signaled it plans to grow its footprint, although the state has said expansion would require new permits.
President-elect Biden is expected to reverse the rule change that paved the way for the mine. But how quickly that happens may depend on who controls the U.S. Senate.
Despite a federal rule change that removes a major hurdle for a mine near the Okefenokee, environmental groups say they're pursuing options to block the mining operation.
