Too few upsides to warrant mining for titanium near wildlife refuge and many huge risks
Tommy Barton
This is a column by Tommy Barton, retired editorial page editor of the Savannah Morning News.
Native Americans called it “Okefenokee,” or “land of the trembling earth.” In this watery corner of Southeast Georgia, the land -- actually thick patches of peat that literally floated on top of water – trembled when you got out of your canoes and walked on it. Even the trees trembled.
I still remember my first visit to the Okefenokee Swamp, the largest blackwater swamp in North America, about 40 years ago. It was like paddling a canoe into a time warp to when dinosaurs walked a raw, unspoiled planet. Here, I got up close to real alligators, not the obnoxious pretend Gators who slank about the old Gator Bowl every fall in Jacksonville.