A notice of intent to sue has been filed on behalf of opponents of an Alabama company’s plans to mine heavy minerals near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

The Pompano Beach, Fla. lawyer who filed the notice earlier this week, Robert N. Hartsell, sent the 127-page notice to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Interior, the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, among others.

The notice was filed on behalf of Citizens Against Phosphate Mining, Inc. and Mark Lyons, a Baker County, Florida, man who owns property along the St. Marys River. It seeks to stop Twin Pines Minerals from mining near the south end of the national wildlife refuge. It is also asking for the halt of mining heavy minerals by other companies in the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin in North Florida and areas near the 438,000-acre refuge in Georgia.

The ongoing mining operations are being blamed for sinkholes, flooding and the draining of lakes in North Florida, according to the notice.

Hartsell plans to sue the agencies for “allowing permitted and unpermitted mining activities in the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

He is giving officials 60 days to address the issues in his notice or a federal lawsuit will be filed. The complaint claims history has demonstrated “the detrimental effects mining has not only on the surrounding ecosystem, but on the hydrology, above and below the surface, resulting in hazardous flooding, contamination of aquifers, sinkholes and the disappearance of bodies of water altogether….”

DuPont abandoned plans to mine near the refuge after the company was unable to convince stakeholders the swamp and surrounding areas would not be harmed.

Twin Pines withdrew its permit application last month but company officials have expressed their intent to file another application after the plans to mine near the swamp have been revised.

The company’s long term plans are to mine on a 12,000-acre site over a 30-year period.

The proposal has the support of elected officials in Charlton County because of what it would add to the tax digest and the 400 jobs created if mining is allowed.