SAVANNAH, GA. (AP) — On Friday, a conservation group said that it has closed a $60 million agreement to purchase land outside the Okefenokee Swamp from a mining corporation. The proposed mine was the subject of years of opposition from environmentalists who thought it would permanently harm an ecological gem.
The Conservation Fund said that it will stop Twin Pines Minerals’ mining intentions by purchasing all 7,700 acres (31.16 square kilometers) that the Alabama-based company holds outside of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia.
According to Stacy Funderburke, vice president for the central Southeast at the Conservation Fund, “it’s a big undertaking, but it was also an existential threat to the entire refuge.” This is the biggest sale we have ever done in Georgia in terms of dollars, although we have done bigger agreements for greater acres.
A spokeswoman for Twin Pines President Steven Ingle confirmed the sale, but he would not further.
Less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the southeast edge of the Okefenokee refuge, close to the Georgia-Florida border, Twin Pines of Birmingham, Alabama, had been attempting since 2019 to secure licenses to mine titanium dioxide, a pigment used to whiten items like toothpaste and paint.
The Okefenokee, which spans almost 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers) in southeast Georgia, is the largest U.S. refuge east of the Mississippi River. Numerous alligators, wood storks with stilt legs, and over 400 other animal species can be found there.
Early last year, the mine seemed to be on the verge of receiving final approval. Despite experts’ warnings that mining along the Okefenokee’s bowl-like rim could harm the lake’s capacity to retain water and increase the frequency of searing droughts, Georgia regulators awarded draft permits in February 2024.
It could mine without destroying the swamp, Twin Pines asserted. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s regulators concurred, coming to the conclusion last year that mining should have little effect on the refuge.
Following environmental rollbacks during President Donald Trump’s first term that deprived the federal government of any oversight, Georgia regulators’ decisions were crucial to the Twin Pines project.
Advocates opposing Twin Pines stated that thousands of acres of privately held land are still unprotected, posing a possible threat to the Okefenokee. Legislators in Georgia have rejected many attempts in recent years to outlaw mining close to the preserve.
According to Rena Ann Peck of the Georgia River Network, there may be 30,000 acres on Trail Ridge that are still at risk outside of the Okefenokee and should be protected.
Josh Marks, an environmental lawyer from Atlanta who opposed the mining project, described the land transaction as a major win. However, he also urged environmentalists to step up their efforts to pass a state law that would protect the Okefenokee and to continue to put pressure on other businesses to avoid mining close to the refuge.
According to Funderburke, the mineral-rich soils of Twin Pines land, which would have been highly sought by other mining enterprises, were a major factor in the site’s high acquisition price. With the business so close to receiving its final permissions, it became more imperative to reach an agreement.
“Once a draft permit was issued last year, it became pretty clear that this was the last exit ramp to stop the project,” Funderburke said.
According to him, his team was closing on roughly 40% of the land on Friday, which includes the 820-acre (332-hectare) location where Twin Pines had applied for a mining permit. The remainder will be closed by the end of July, according to the Conservation Fund.
Funderburke expressed his optimism that an agreement will eventually be reached for the area to become owned and protected by the government.
In January, a plan to expand the Okefenokee refuge by purchasing up to 22,000 acres (8,900) from private owners along its border was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is in charge of the refuge. Twin Pines’ land was included in the proposal.
Twin Pines’ failure to fulfill the financial commitment necessary for Georgia regulators to render a final verdict on its mining permit may have been due to negotiations with the Conservation Fund.
Recently, the Environmental Protection Division verified that Twin Pines was informed in February 2024 that $2 million would need to be set aside for the mining site’s future repair. In the sixteen months prior to the sale being revealed, the company never made any progress.
