GEORGIA — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff announced he was backing a proposal to expand the Okefenokee Wildlife Regue in Georgia to protect the land, adding to the list of people contesting plans to mine the area for titanium dioxide.
Ossoff’s announcement is the latest addition to a growing list of people urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the swampland, though there are also efforts being made at the local and state levels in Georgia.
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Channel 2′s Michael Doudna spoke to supporters in November who said Governor Brian Kemp could also preserve the nature refuge by rejecting the mining permits from Twin Pines Minerals, LLC.
The mining company has said they have spent millions of dollars to protect the swamp while still mining as planned.
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The U.S. FWS proposal’s public comment period continues through Dec. 13, after which the federal agency will make a decision.
“It is vitally important that we continue to protect the Okefenokee Swamp and its irreplaceable ecosystem that is an economic driver for our state and a cherished treasure for millions of Georgians,” Ossoff wrote to FWS Southeast Regional Director Mike Oetker. “Importantly, this proposed expansion would preserve private property rights by enabling FWS to ‘work with willing landowners to explore voluntary conservation, including potential acquisition, that would further protect the refuge’s globally significant freshwater wetland system and wildlife habitat.’ Given the importance of protecting the Okefenokee to my State, our Nation, and future generations, I strongly support the FWS proposed boundary expansion.”
The Georgia swamp is the largest blackwater swamp in North America and contains both a wildlife refuge and a U.S. Wilderness area, in addition to being a popular tourist destination and the home to dozens of Native American mounds of cultural and historical significance to the Muscogee Nation, also known as the Creek Indians.
Ossoff has been publicly opposed to the strip mine, according to the senator’s office, since February 2023. In September the National Park Service also announced its intention to nominate the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to join the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
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