The sun sets over water lilies and cypress trees along the remote Red Trail wilderness water trail of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Fargo, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)
SAVANNAH (Georgia): A US federal agency says that it has approved a plan to expand the Okefenokee Swamp’s vast wildlife refuge, setting up a potential buyout offer for land intended for a private company’s mining project that conservationists have fought for years.
The plan approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service could add 8,900ha along the boundaries of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the largest federal refuge east of the Mississippi River.
The service manages the refuge and is part of the Interior Department.
“This minor expansion will help further conservation efforts for the swamp along with the threatened and endangered species that inhabit it,” Michael Lusk, the Okefenokee refuge manager, said.
Owners of private land included in the expansion plan would first have to agree to sell or donate their property to the federal government.
That includes land owned near the swamp’s edge by Twin Pines Minerals, which is on the cusp of obtaining state permits to mine minerals for producing titanium dioxide. The compound is used to whiten paints, paper and toothpaste.
Scientists have warned that mining near the Okefenokee’s bowl-like rim could irreparably harm the swamp’s ability to hold water and increase the frequency of withering droughts.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022 declared that the proposed mine poses an “unacceptable risk” to the fragile ecosystem at the Georgia-Florida line.
The Fish and Wildlife Service adopted the expansion plan after a public comment period on the proposal the agency first announced in October.
The proposal comes as Twin Pines awaits final approval from Georgia environmental regulators of its mining project less than 4.8km from the refuge’s current boundary.
Josh Marks, an Atlanta environmental attorney who opposes the Twin Pines project, called the refuge expansion plan “a critical development in the drive to protect the Okefenokee Swamp from mining”.
He called on Georgia officials to deny permits for the mine in hopes that Twin Pines would “donate or sell its property for conservation”.
Steve Ingle, Twin Pines’ president, had no comment on the federal agency’s announcement last Friday, spokesman Chip Stewart said.
An attorney for Twin Pines, Lewis Jones, wrote to the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) last month that the company would “take FWS at its word” that it would only “acquire property from willing sellers” and not use the expansion plan to try to influence the state permitting process.
Twin Pines, which first applied for permits in 2019, has insisted that it can mine near the Okefenokee refuge without harming it. — AP
