Movie star Leonardo DiCaprio and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff are calling on Georgia regulators to block a mining project advancing near the Okefenokee swamp, the largest blackwater swamp in the nation.
While DiCaprio took to Instagram, Ossoff submitted comments to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, urging the state agency to deny Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals’ proposal to mine for titanium, a silvery-white metal, near the swamp.
“Mining next to the Okefenokee not only threatens the swamp’s critical biodiversity, but it also puts the swamp’s water levels at risk,” DiCaprio wrote on Instagram. “When peatlands are dewatered, they release vast quantities of carbon-rich greenhouse gasses and put the area at risk for catastrophic wildfires, exacerbating climate change.”
The state has collected more than 77,000 comments in response to a trio of draft permits it issued in February for Twin Pines Minerals to build an 820-acre mining project adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, where the company hopes to dig up titanium, which is used for everything from paint pigment to military equipment.
