A chorus of Georgia voices rises to defend the Okefenokee

Titanium dioxide isn’t the rarest mineral, and its uses — making various products look whiter — aren’t the most vital. Yet, this powdery substance has been the subject of a six-year-long legal battle, which culminated last week in a $60 million deal for land near the Okefenokee Swamp.

Birmingham-based Twin Pines Minerals, which had successfully scaled the ladder of government approval and was poised to begin a demonstration mine, reversed course and agreed to sell all its holdings near the swam, some 8,000 acres, to The Conservation Fund, ending for now any plans for mining near the swamp.

This is the second time a company has backed down from plans to mine close to the Okefenokee, so there’s every reason to think this won’t be the last attempt to develop around the edges of the 438,000-acre swamp. But this deal will strengthen the hand of environmentalists beyond stopping one project because The Conservation Fund may have standing as an affected landowner.

The coalition that came together to defend the swamp was very corporate — hence, the bucks to dangle in front of Twin Pines — and very, very Georgia.

Stacy Funderburke, who played a key role in pulling together the money from a variety of individuals and organizations, was a corporate lawyer before he became a regional vice president for the Conservation Fund. He holds degrees in business from the University of Georgia and law from the University of Virginia.

Dick Yarbrough’s syndicated column is known for his folksy humor and political views that reflect his background as a BellSouth executive and communications director for the Atlanta Olympic Committee. Writing about the threat to the Okefenokee, the affable columnist became a bulldog. He returned to the subject repeatedly, tearing into politicians for timidity in defending the state’s interests and raising attention to the issue from his readers around the state.

Speaking of bulldogs, Loran Smith has done a lot of things, but for most Georgia fans he will forever be remembered as the sideline recipient of Larry Munson’s persistent question, “Whatcha got, Loran?”

Smith came off the sideline for the swamp, writing in the Brunswick News:
“I am not a scientist; I have done no research, but I can read. I have tried to do as much of that as I can and, as a result, have concluded that the swamp is in danger if Twin Pine Minerals of Birmingham is allowed to do as it wishes.”

These voices were joined by those of longtime and first-time environmentalists and (some) Republican and Democratic politicians to create the coalition that kept interest high enough and involvement committed enough to convince Twin Pines to take the money and run.
“The damnedest people did the right thing,” one seasoned veteran of many environmental campaigns said.

Most of the swamp itself falls under the protection of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge and the somewhat smaller Okefenokee Wilderness. Former Gov. Sonny Perdue has endorsed an effort begun in the Biden Administration to have the Okefenokee declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Twin Pines announced its mining project after the first Trump administration passed the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which narrowed the definition of protected waterways and made it possible to mine closer to the nation’s largest blackwater swamp.

The Trump rule was later overturned in court, but by that time the Twin Pines project had been approved by EPA inspectors. That rule has been replaced by a revised version, but it’s not clear how that would affect future attempts to mine around the swamp. The project was still awaiting approval from the state Environmental Protection Division, mostly because the financially troubled company had not yet paid a security bond, which it will no longer be on the hook for.