Okefenokee mining impacts don’t respect borders.

Twin Pines Minerals, is seeking to mine titanium and zirconium on 582 acres bordering Okefenokee Swamp, a federally protected wilderness and globally significant wetland. The Georgia Conservancy highlights that there is insufficient evidence that the hydrology and wildlife of Okefenokee Swamp or the St. Mary’s River will not be adversely affected. Heavy industrial strip mining is incompatible with rural, agricultural, and forestry land uses and is certainly inconsistent with a bedroom community with a rural quality of life.

Emily Floore, representing St. Mary’s Riverkeeper, told Nassau County commissioners that the St. Mary’s is pristine and unique for its lack of development. Destruction of wetlands for mining operations endangers water quality of the St. Mary’s River, wetland downstream and the Florida aquifer for both Charlton County, Georgia and Nassau County, Florida.  “Land along the St. Mary’s is almost entirely private-owned, by timber plantations, conservation districts and private citizens.” Businesses dependent on these lands, recreation and fisheries are all threatened.