ATKINSON, CO. – The Atkinson County Commissioners recently passed a unanimous resolution for the Okefenokee Swamp against the strip mine.
Release:
Thanks to the Atkinson County Commissioners for passing this resolution unanimously Thursday evening. We will get a signed copy soon.
Shirley Kokidko, who lives in Pearson, the county seat, said a few words. I gave the shortest speech ever, “We could speak for half an hour. But if the Okefenokee Swamp isn’t worth protecting, what is?”
As they voted, they said things such as, “this would affect our fishing.”
A Commissioner sought me out in the parking lot afterwards to remark, “This is our heritage, our way of life.”
After Berrien County, plus the city of Nashville, this is the second county on the Alapaha River to pass such a resolution.
It is the fifth such resolution in Georgia state Senate District 8, after Valdosta, Ware County and Waycross, Clinch, and Echols Counties. Maybe Senator Russ Goodman will be interested in that.
Berrien County and the city of Nashville are in District 13, of Senator Carden Summers.
Parts of Waycross and Ware County, and all of the cities of Homeland, Kingsland, and St. Marys, are in Senate District 3, Senator Mike Hodges.
The city of Savannah is in Senate District 3, Derek Mallow.
DeKalb County appears to be in Senate Districts 10, Emanuel Jones; 40, Sally Harrell; 41, Kim Jackson; 42, Elena Parent; 43, Tonya Anderson; 44, Gail Davenport; and 55, Gloria Butler.
In Georgia state House districts, Berrien County and the city of Nashville are in District 170, Penny Houston.
Atkinson County is in District 176, James Burchett, as is part of Ware County and Waycross.
Echols, Clinch, and part of Ware Counties, as well as part of Waycross, and all of the city of Homeland, are in District 174, John Corbett.
Valdosta is in District 177, Dexter Sharper, with bits in District 175, John LaHood.
The cities of Kingsland and Homeland are in District 180, Steven Sainz.
Plus there are the resolutions by Savannah (Georgia House District 165, Edna Jackson, and others) and DeKalb County (many Georgia House districts) and the support by the Georgia Municipal Association for GA HB 71.
And Hamilton County, Florida, making four counties downstream on the Suwannee River: Ware, Clinch, and Echols Counties, Georgia, and Hamilton County, Florida. See https://wwals.net/?p=57248
Against that, there’s only one resolution for the mine, by Charlton County, solely on the basis of promised jobs. And I don’t know about you, but if I was starting a new project using several techniques never used before for such a project, and the whole world was watching, I wouldn’t hire people who knew nothing about those techniques; I’d hire people from somewhere else who knew them.
Thanks to Shirley Kokidko for suggesting this resolution to the Atkinson County Commissioners. Thanks to Chairman Parker Liles for putting it on the agenda.
A Resolution for the Okefenokee Swamp and against the Twin Pines Minerals strip mine
by the Board of County Commissioners, Atkinson County, Georgia
WHEREAS, Atkinson County values waterways, as evidenced by its Comprehensive Plan, “Goal 1: NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES -Protect and preserve the unique natural and cultural resources of Atkinson County and the Cities of Pearson and Willacoochee including soils, rivers and lakes;” and
WHEREAS, the citizens of Atkinson County value the natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities afforded by the Okefenokee Swamp and the Suwannee River and their watersheds such as fishing, swimming, boating, and birding; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee Swamp is a unique natural, cultural, and economic treasure known worldwide: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified it as an Aquatic Resource of National Importance, it is a National Natural Landmark and a National Wilderness Area and it has been designated a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation of wetlands, and it is frequented by citizens of Atkinson County; and
WHEREAS, a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress support a bid by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a tentative list to become a full UNESCO World Heritage Site; and
WHEREAS, the Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the St Marys River and of the Suwannee River, famous in song worldwide, around 85% of the Swamp is in the Suwannee River Basin; and
WHEREAS, the Suwannee River is frequented by citizens of Atkinson County; and
WHEREAS, Twin Pines Minerals LLC (TPM), of Birmingham, Alabama, proposes to strip mine for titanium dioxide on Trail Ridge which is within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp, and;
WHEREAS, upon information and belief, TPM proposes to use drag lines, which is a method never used for such mines on Trail Ridge in Georgia or Florida, and TPM has not met the burden of proof in demonstrating that such a mine would not contaminate the Okefenokee Swamp or the Floridan Aquifer, or possibly even lower the water level in the Swamp or the Aquifer;
WHEREAS, lowering the water level in the Okefenokee Swamp would reduce the areas that can be reached by boat both in the Swamp and on the Suwannee River, and it would increase fire risk in and around the Swamp causing a direct health hazard to communities and citizens nearby;
WHEREAS, strip mining, which upon information and belief, is very likely to disturb and distribute mercury previously deposited through the air from Coal Power Plants in Georgia, will cause harmful toxicity to wildlife and humans if it gets into the Swamp and the Suwannee River; and
WHEREAS, upon information and belief, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) is attempting to do the kind of extensive review that the Army Corps usually does, and on February 9, 2024, GA-EPD issued draft permits for the TPM applications related to the proposed mine, for surface mining, water withdrawal, and air quality, all with a 60-day comment period; and
WHEREAS, the current TPM permit applications are for a demonstration site, yet they own hundreds more acres they plan to mine ever-closer to the Okefenokee Swamp, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in 2019, “The initial project location is the farthest that mining activity would be from the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) boundary and the Okefenokee Swamp. Any additional mining that occurs within the 12,000-acre permit area would be closer to the refuge. The northwest boundary of the permit area is within a half mile from the refuge boundary and 400 feet from the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Atkinson County Board of Commissioners:
1. Oppose the Twin Pines Minerals LLC (TPM) strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp, as well as any other strip mine permit applications within fifteen miles of the Swamp.
2. Request the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to resume oversight of the mine site, and to resume permit review including preparation of a full Area-Wide Environmental Impact Statement with public hearings, public comment, and independent third-party review.
3. Request the Georgia Environmental Protection Division or the Georgia legislature to implement a moratorium on all mining permits for five years or until the legal ramifications become clear of the legal cases involving Army Corps oversight of the mine site and similar locations near the Okefenokee Swamp.
4. Request that if the Georgia Environmental Protection Division will not reject the permits, that it should thoroughly review them to at least the same degree and extent as a thorough U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Area-Wide Environmental Impact Statement with public hearings, public comment, and independent third-party review.
5. Request the Georgia legislature to pass appropriate legislation to prevent such strip mines in the future, whether near the Okefenokee Swamp or near any of the blackwater rivers in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia, including the Suwannee, Alapaha, Alapahoochee, Willacoochee, Withlacoochee, and Little Rivers, as well as the Satilla and St. Marys Rivers.
6. Request the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from a tentative list to become a full UNESCO World Heritage Site, and support a bill by a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress in support of that move.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, ATKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, this day of 2024.
By:
Attest:
Okefenokee Resolution Page 2 of 2 Atkinson County Commission
-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®
You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
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