Help Protect The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge–

The Okefenokee swamp sends waters into Florida mainly by means of the Suwannee River and also the St Marys, which  forms part of the Florida border with Georgia.  The Santa Fe, of course, is the Suwannee’s largest tributary and empties into it near Branford.

Twin Pines Minerals, the company planning the mine near the Okefenokee Refuge, also mines in the uppermost basin of the Santa Fe, and is a potential threat to our river.  Their record in Florida suggests they may damage the delicate ecosystem of the swamp as they are proven rule-breakers and corner-cutters.

Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum

Say no to mining in the Okefenokee basin. Take action! To protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, we must act now.Twin Pines Minerals, a company cited by the State of Florida for various mining violations, is close to opening a strip mine on the doorstep of this storied refuge. Following rollbacks to the Clean Water Act, the project was able to bypass scientific review and now only requires a handful of permits from the State of Georgia to break ground on the prospective 8,000 acre mining complex. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to warn that the entire 438,000 acre swamp could be permanently compromised by mine operations. In a 2020 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Congressman Al Lawson found it “unacceptable that such little consideration has been given to how the project will affect Florida’s resources”.  Without any federal review or analysis of how the Sunshine State and its rivers that flow from the swamp would be impacted, Floridians should call for the State of Georgia to reject the permits for this ill-conceived project. Tell Georgia Governor Brian Kemp – No to mining in the Okefenokee Basin! Thanks for all you do for the environment, Grant Gelhardt Chair, Conservation Committee Sierra Club Florida Chapter Donate