After years of trying, environmentalists neutralize a mining threat near Okefenokee

The Alabama company that planned to mine titanium dioxide next to the Okefenokee Swamp has agreed to sell its property to an environmental fund ending for now a threat to more than acres of designated national wilderness that is home to several endangered and threatened species The land deal declared Friday presents a second time a mining proposal near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was thwarted due to constituents outcry Credit Joe Cook Georgia Rivers The Conservation Fund stated Friday that it had agreed to buy Twin Pines Minerals property on Trail Ridge near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge ending a six-year effort to protect North America s largest blackwater swamp By purchasing this land from Twin Pines The Conservation Fund will ensure that the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge remains wild and unspoiled for all Americans Stacy Funderburke the Fund s vice president for the central Southeast region noted in a report Funderburke stated in an interview that the Fund had agreed to pay about million for the nearly -acre property The transaction will occur in two phases with the first phase Friday involving a transaction for of the purchase price and the final closing July He mentioned his organization continues to raise money for that final phase-two transaction Twin Pines had no comment but approved the sale through a spokesman The fund pulled together money from private donors with the help of advocacy group One Hundred Miles Twin Pines decision to sell their land to a conservation buyer instead of to a mining company is a respectable response to the hundreds of thousands of voices who have spoken out against the mining proposal Megan Desrosiers president and CEO of One Hundred Miles mentioned in a report Alice Keyes a vice president of One Hundred Miles credited the unbelievable population outcry against mining the swamp About a quarter million people submitted comments against the mining project to the U S Army Corps of Engineers and to the state of Georgia mentioned the Southern Environmental Law Center which worked against the mine It was one of the largest citizens campaigns that I have ever been involved in disclosed Keyes who has worked on environmental issues for three decades The Okefenokee is a rich ecosystem hosting bald eagles bobcats black bears and alligators Wood storks indigo snakes and red-cockaded woodpeckers are among the endangered and threatened species that rely on the swamp U S Sen Jon Ossoff a Democrat who has been involved in the effort to stop the mine called the purchase great news for all Georgians and our beloved natural treasure Threats remain though Josh Marks president of Georgians for the Okefenokee noted the purchase was a huge achievement to protect a natural treasure from a dangerous project promoted by an atrocious company But the threat is not over by a long shot The Conservation Fund struck a deal with DuPont in the early s to stop a different titanium dioxide mine Marks is worried that Chemours which spun off from DuPont a decade ago could still mine nearby private property and reported the General Assembly should pass the Okefenokee Protection Act act that has stalled Funderburke agreed that a couple other private properties nearby could also be mined but revealed the Twin Pines sale reduced the peril He revealed the company s inability to secure a mining permit after six years of trying could discourage other mining efforts And he revealed that such a large mine so close to the swamp would have set a terrible precedent He explained other options besides outright purchases exist such as buying conservation easements The threat is not over so the drumbeat should continue Funderburke announced But this is a really vital milestone in the fight against mining in the Okefenokee That drumbeat has been growing louder Sonny Perdue a former Republican governor of Georgia has pushed for protecting the swamp The long-serving cabinet member during President Donald Trump s first term is now chancellor of the University System of Georgia In April Perdue urged U S Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to advocacy the years-long effort to get the national wildlife refuge designated as a United Nations World Heritage Site The letter which Perdue sent on Board of Regents letterhead cited a assessment by an environmental conservation group that declared the designation would be an economic boon for the area around the Okefenokee Others have used the economic argument as well The Southern Environmental Law Center noted that the Okefenokee draws more than visits a year supporting more than jobs and generating about million in annual economic activity for the four counties around the Okefenokee The post After years of trying environmentalists neutralize a mining threat near Okefenokee appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta