A coalition of environmental organizations delivered more than 24,000 petition signatures and nearly 300 pieces of artwork from children to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office Thursday, urging him to permanently protect the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The groups, which included Environment Georgia, Garden Club of Georgia, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and others, called on the governor to support pending legislation to ban future surface mining on the refuge’s Trail Ridge, a geological feature that contains valuable minerals but also serves as a barrier protecting the Okefenokee. House Bill 561, known as the “Okefenokee Protection Act” and sponsored by Rep. Darlene Taylor, a Thomasville Republican, has not yet passed out of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee.
An Alabama-based company, Twin Pines Minerals, dropped its plans to mine Trail Ridge this summer and said that it would instead sell 8,000 acres near the refuge. In the 1990s, DuPont also attempted to mine near the swamp.
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