The controversial mine, proposed for an space adjoining to Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, has been battle floor for state and federal regulators since plans emerged in 2019
Two paddlers within the Okefenokee. swap. The federal authorities has a reserved proper to the water in Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge, because of a 1908 Supreme Courtroom choice. {Photograph} by Funderburke Pictures / Adobe Inventory
Mining firm Twin Pines Minerals’ plans to extract titanium dioxide 3 miles from Okefenokee Nationwide Wildlife Refuge on the Florida-Georgia state line bumped into some federal purple tape on the finish of January, in accordance with a letter just lately acquired by the Associated Press. In it the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reminded the Georgia Environmental Safety Division that extracting water from federally reserved lands is prohibited when that water is important for the aim of these lands. In different phrases, the USFWS considers Okefenokee’s huge expanse of swamp off limits to Twin Pines, who reportedly desires to extract 1.4 million gallons a day from the underlying Floridan aquifer for mining actions.
“Disruption to the pure circulate of groundwater on this interconnected system may have far-reaching penalties for each the Refuge and surrounding areas,” USFWS Southeast regional director Mike Oetker wrote within the letter to Georgia EPD. “Any choice relating to the proposed mining allow have to be made with consideration of federal reserved water rights.”
When the Georgia EPD performed its personal evaluation of the challenge, which might mine 773 acres of land close to the Refuge’s southeastern border alongside an elevated sand characteristic known as “Path Ridge,” it concluded the swamp’s water stage could be minimally impacted. Consequently, the Georgia EPD issued draft permits for the mine on Feb. 9, which initiated a 60-day public remark interval.
The FWS letter served as little greater than a reminder that the federal authorities has a reserved proper to no matter amount of water is important to take care of the ecological integrity of the Okefenokee, because of a Supreme Courtroom choice within the notable Winters vs. U.S. case of 1908. This ruling states that when the U.S. reserves land for a selected use, it additionally reserves the water rights essential to help that use. (This choice is usually cited in questions of American Indian and Alaska Native water rights on reservation lands and water entry on army bases.)
The challenge (and who ought to regulate it) has been the topic of a lot back-and-forth in recent times. When plans for the mine emerged in 2017, the Military Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Safety Company had regulatory authority over the challenge. However a Trump-era rollback of what sorts of waterways acquired safety beneath the Clear Water Act modified that authority in 2020, leaving the mine’s allowing course of solely within the arms of Georgia EPD, the AP experiences.
The Biden administration has since worked to restore the protecting powers of the Clear Water Act, and this transfer from the USFWS is an indication of the feds attempting to regain some management over what some consultants name a probably disastrous thought. The Alabama-based firm’s representatives swear the mine would haven’t any unfavorable influence on the nation’s largest blackwater swamp and the largest wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi River.
“The makes an attempt to distort the reality and shut down this challenge get extra determined as we get nearer to a allow,” Twin Pines president Steve Ingle instructed the AP in December 2022. “Now we have adopted the regulatory course of in good religion from the start with an abundance of science demonstrating provable methodologies and can proceed to take action.”
However the conservation science neighborhood within the South feels in another way, Out of doors Life contributor Chris Hunt reported in March 2023. Simply learn this letter 87 scientists penned to Georgia regulators.
Learn Subsequent: A Mining Proposal in the Okefenokee Threatens America’s Largest Remaining Blackwater Swamp
“The geographic options underlying the world have been formed over the previous a number of thousand years by highly effective coastal forces,” the letter reads. “Except a complete examine is carried out that takes a tough have a look at the hydrologic capabilities of this area, will probably be unimaginable to say that the proposed mine, which might be situated lower than three miles from the Okefenokee, won’t jeopardize the Swamp and surrounding areas. There’s definitely no settlement that the mine won’t be dangerous – which must be sufficient to provide pause to any mining permits.”
Titanium dioxide is usually present in sunscreens, lotions, cosmetics, and hygiene merchandise. The price per metric ton of titanium dioxide pigment has risen since 2018, from $2,710 to $3,400 in 2022. However arguments for the mine’s financial advantages have little sway in communities that depend on the Okefenokee for ample fishing alternatives, groundwater storage, drought resilience, wildlife habitat, and general ecosystem well being.
The Georgia EPD is reviewing the USFWS letter as a part of the current public comment period, which ends subsequent month. At the moment, Georgia EPD will resolve whether or not to challenge finalized permits to Twin Pines. To date, state regulators have stood by their preliminary evaluation.
