On Thursday, August 15, I attended the Charlton County Board of Commissioners meeting. We knew that they planned to vote on an oddly premature “proclamation of support” for the Twin Pines, LLC, 12,000-acre titanium mining project less than four miles from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
I was pleased to see the standing-room-only crowd. The Commissioners proceeded quickly through the agenda and then voted unanimously to approve the proclamation. There was no discussion about it.
The audience members then sat through the entire meeting, waiting for the public comment period – only to be informed, when the time came, that no one from outside Charlton County was allowed to speak.
In the audience were citizens from Camden County, representatives from environmental organizations (Defenders of Wildlife, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia River Network, the St. Marys EarthKeepers, etc.), and people from other areas that would be directly impacted by the mining project. We are stakeholders. (As are all who are reading this letter now). We have “standing” in this matter. And yet we were denied the opportunity to address the Commissioners.
The St. Marys River is born of a tiny stream, known as “River Styx”, that lies deep within the Okefenokee Swamp. From there, this rare blackwater river gains strength until, after a journey of 125 river-miles, it delivers its unique tea-dark potion into the Atlantic.
Twin Pines LLC (Alabama) plans to base their operation dangerously close to the headwaters of our river. The company is already cited in a consent order on Chemours mines for failure to collect data, spilling waste through silt fences and not cleaning it up, and being out of compliance on numerous counts, including radium and iron, in the Suwannee, St. Johns, and St. Marys River basins in Florida. And now they want to mine beside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
We’ve seen no hydrological studies. They’ve performed no research regarding the potentially-devastating impacts on the nearby hunt-clubs and hunters that rely on the Swamp for their income. No studies have been done about the impacts on tourism. (The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Banking On Nature report found that visitation to the Okefenokee generates an annual income of $64.7 million to the surrounding area and supports an estimated 753 jobs. Twin Pines dangles the carrot of 150 jobs at best - and that number is highly questionable.)
In fact, Twin Pines offers (in their videotaped words) “no guarantees” that their operation will not negatively and permanently impact the Okefenokee Swamp and the rivers and people that depend upon it.
It is imperative that The United States Army Corp of Engineers hear from the public. We must urge them to require a thorough Environmental Impact Statement before the Twin Pines, LLC project proceeds. Your voices are needed now.
Please email holly.a.ross@usace.army.mil
Make sure that you refer to the applicant’s name and the application number in your subject line and/or comments:
Twin Pines Minerals, LLC, 2100 Southbridge Parkway, Birmingham, Ala. 35209, Application Number: SAS-2018-00554.
Alex Kearns
Chair
St. Marys EarthKeepers
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