DuPont Rules Out Mining Near Okefenokee
Company Will Honor Agreement Even If Government Doesn't Pay
DuPont officials have ruled out mining on a 38,000-acre tract adjacent to the Okefenokee swamp.
A proposed project to mine titanium oxide has been on hold for two years since a committee created to study the issue agreed to ask the federal government to pay $90 million as compensation to DuPont.
It's unclear if the federal government will ever agree to pay, but corporate officials said this week that they will honor the 1999 agreement regardless. They say that selling the land to another mining company is not an option.
DuPont formed the committee in 1997 after then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced his opposition to the project to surface mine over a 50-year period near the east side of the 400,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
Copyright 2003 by News4Jax.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2003 by News4Jax.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
