One of the names that comes up in the controversy regarding the possible permitting by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to allow mining for titanium dioxide on Trail Ridge at the edge of the Okefenokee by Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals is attorney Joe Hopkins, of Charlton County.
To the environmental groups fighting the permitting process, Hopkins, president and CEO of Toledo Manufacturing Company, is a political power responsible for the deafening silence coming out of Gov. Brian Kemp’s office as well as the EPD and assorted members of the Legislature.
They have it wrong, Hopkins told me by phone. He had gotten in touch with me to correct what he considered misstatements on my part in an earlier column on the Okefenokee. I had called him the owner of Toledo Manufacturing. Not so. He is president along with other shareholders he chose not to identify and calls it a “small privately-held company.”
He also took issue with my referring to him as a “timber baron.” We might have to quibble over that one. Toledo owns tens of thousands of acres of land in the county, including a 30,000-acre tract directly north of Twin Pines’ property.
Hopkins wanted to set the record straight about his perceived role in the Okefenokee dispute. To him, it is all about the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects private property rights. “My position is based on my support of the U.S. Constitution and the guarantees protected. Statutorily banning mining over a certain geographic area eliminates due process of law and terminates a private property right that landowners currently have,” he says.
Testifying against The Okefenokee Protection Act in March 2023, which would have prohibited future mining on Trail Ridge, Hopkins said the permitting process couldn’t be bypassed without infringing on property rights. “The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law,” he said. “That’s what your EPD does. Make your case for seeking a permit. You may lose but you have had your due process of law. If we pass this bill that goes away.” The bill did not pass.
He says he has no interest in Twin Pines or their efforts. Interestingly, he does say that if chemical giant Chemours, which is rumored to be buying Twin Pines, were involved, “I have met with Chemours in the past but I have no agreement with them to mine. If it is determined by studying past and current mining operations up, down and near Trail Ridge that mining the Toledo deposit would have no adverse affect on the swamp, they would certainly be my company of choice to do the mining due their long history of successfully mining heavy minerals in our area.”
Hopkins says mining has been conducted up and down Trail Ridge for close to 70 years. “Why don’t we all pause, do a three-year study to determine what effects mining has had on water tables on Trail Ridge and then make a decision based on scientific evidence?” he says. “A moratorium on any future permits could be enacted until the results are in. All parties could provide their own experts to monitor the research to satisfy themselves that the results are accurate.”
As for Twin Pines application seeking to withdraw more than 1.4 million gallon daily in its mining operation, Hopkins offers this perspective: “Pumping 1.4 million gallons of water per day over a 365-day period equals 511 million gallons a year,” he says. “One inch of rain over 400,000 acres (the Okefenokee swamp) equals 10,861,718,271 gallons of water. 511,000,000 divided by 10,861,718,271 equals a little less than 5% or 1/20th of an inch or rainfall over the swamp.” The Okefenokee gets roughly 50 inches of precipitation annually.
Citing the number of man-made canals and ditches (canoe trails) that already exist in the swamp and drain water from the Okefenokee, Hopkins says he would be glad to sit down with a hydrologist and have them explain to him how the water drawn out of a well would adversely affect the water levels in the swamp.
Another solution for those opposing mining in the Okefenokee, according to Hopkins, would be for them to purchase the titanium from the landowners that are in the area that they wish to ban from mining. “That would permanently resolve this issue, ” he says, “and would be a win/win situation. The swamp would be saved by those who think it will be harmed, the landowner will be compensated for the mineral and everyone can go home satisfied.”
I have given Mr. Hopkins the opportunity to offer his position on the proposed project as I have opponents. Whether you agree or disagree with him is for you to decide. I did mention to him in our conversations that the final judge will be the Court of Public Opinion. And that’s you.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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