Fate of planned mine near Okefenokee left to Georgia agency
By RUSS BYNUMJune 7, 2021 GMT
FOLKSTON, Ga. (AP) More than 160 years after her great-great-grandfather settled on a patch of land surrounded by water in the Okefenokee Swamp, Sheila Carter takes visitors on guided canoe tours for firsthand looks at the swamp’s abundant alligators and stilt-legged birds wading among blooming water lilies.
Even when she’s not working, Carter often paddles the tea-colored waters to find peace amid the vastly unspoiled wilderness. She fears it could be irreparably harmed if a mining company is allowed to dig for minerals just outside the Okefenokee, home to the largest U.S. wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi River.
State Has Questions About Mining Plan Near Okefenokee wabe.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wabe.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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This story was updated 11:50 a.m. Monday.
Environmentalists hold up the controversial proposal to mine for minerals near the Okefenokee Swamp as the poster child of the lands that lost federal protection under former President Donald Trump’s administration last summer.
That rule replaced an Obama-era one that opponents criticized as government overreach and shifted the focus of the Twin Pines Minerals’ mining application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which is now poised to decide the fate of the mining project.
The Alabama-based company submitted five permit applications this year to the state for the 740-acre mining demonstration that Twin Pines says will prove it can pull off the project without threatening the largest national wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi River.
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ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ NATSO, the national trade association representing truckstops and travel plazas, is pleased to announce that Andrew Richard, Chief Executive Officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Sapp Bros. Inc., and President of Sapp Bros. Petroleum Inc., has been appointed as an at-large director on the NATSO Board of Directors.
Richard started with Sapp. Bros. in December 2009. He has held positions on both the wholesale fuel and travel center sides of the business. Throughout his career with Sapp Bros., Richard has sold lubricants, bought and sold fuel, led the team selling over-the-road fleet deals and served as the president of wholesale division. He has held his current position of CEO since 2018.