Published: June 6, 2022 |

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A proposed mine near the Okefenokee Swamp has been dealt a major setback.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reversing an earlier decision that it and other federal agencies didn’t have oversight over the mine’s environmental impact.

That makes the path ahead for the controversial titanium mine, owned by Twin Pines Minerals, likely longer, more complicated and more expensive because it will have to go through a federal review process.

The proposed project near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has gotten support from local officials interested in the potential to bring jobs to the rural area.

But scientists and environmentalists have been fighting the mine for years, with concerns about how it would affect the Okefenokee Swamp — itself an economic driver in the area — as well as nearby rivers.

In a memorandum on Friday, the Corps said it was reversing the earlier decision that took it and other federal agencies out of the picture because it had failed at the time to consult with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The earlier decision was made during the Trump administration.

This is by no means the end of the road for the mine, though. In a statement Friday night, Steve Ingle, the president of Twin Pines Minerals, said he still planned to proceed with the project.

“It is worth noting that for the most part, the regulations, if enacted, will only restore permitting requirements we were already addressing in federal applications before the Trump ruling was issued. We intend to move forward with our application and fulfill all requirements,” said Ingle.

Twin Pines has been going through a state permitting process. Georgia officials have said they would collect public comments on the proposal.

But the Corps’ reversal means the mine will now have to go through the more rigorous federal process.

Ingle has maintained that his project, a scaled-down version of what he initially proposed, won’t harm the swamp.

“We wouldn’t be investing millions of dollars in the permitting process if we weren’t certain of our abilities to achieve those objectives,” said Ingle.

But scientists have said the complex geology of the area makes it difficult to know for sure that there wouldn’t be any impacts.

The mine has been caught up in the back and forth between Democratic and Republican presidential administrations over how far reaching the Clean Water Act is.

“The fact that there appears to have been a change doesn’t come as a surprise, it isn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last. We have no say in what the regulatory agencies are charged with doing,” said Ingle.

The Obama administration tried to define what waterways were covered by federal water law. The Trump administration reversed that rule and narrowed the purview of the Act.

During that window, the Corps made its decision that there were no waterways in the area of the mine that were protected by the federal law. That meant the project could go forward without a lengthy federal review process.

The Biden administration is now working on its own version of the rule but has for now returned to an earlier incarnation of it.

This isn’t the first time a mine has been proposed near the Okefenokee. In the late 1990s the chemical company DuPont proposed a mine near the swamp. It backed off its plans after then-Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt visited the Okefenokee and spoke out against the proposal.

Source: WABE

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