RAP! RAP! RAP!
“This assembly of the Okefenokee Creatures Affiliation will come to order. I’m your chairperson, Pogo the Possum. Please stand, crawl, hop or slither as you’re able and recite the OCA pledge: ‘I pledge allegiance to the Okefenokee Swamp and the peat upon which it stands. One swamp, indivisible, with rivers and justice for all, besides drag-miners. Amen!’”
“At the moment, I need to talk about the efforts by Twin Pines Minerals, an Alabama-based firm whose headquarters are 385 miles from the Okefenokee, to drag-mine some 600-acres on Path Ridge, the jap boundary of the swamp for titanium dioxide. Sure, Albert the Alligator, you may have a query?”
“Sure, Mr. Chairperson. Regardless that I’m one of many two extant species within the genus Alligator and a big crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States, I’m additionally a proud American. If mining titanium oxide will make us protected from overseas and home enemies, I strongly help the trouble, despite the fact that it may ravage the swamp and decrease the water degree for me and my fellow alligators!”
“Yeah! Right here! Right here! USA! USA!”
“Thanks, Albert. Nonetheless, titanium dioxide is used primarily for paints, toothpaste whitener, face powder and meals coloring. Whereas I declare no experience in nationwide safety points, I’m unsure any of those would make ours a safer place to reside.”
“Boo! Boo! Hiss! Hiss!”
“I imagine Howland Owl needs to be acknowledged.”
“Thanks, Mr. Chairperson Possum. Because the denizens of the Okefenokee are conscious, I’m probably the most discovered creature within the swamp. Do you know that mud inhalation from titanium dioxide could trigger respiratory issues? Titanium dioxide has been labeled by the Worldwide Company for Analysis on Most cancers as a Group 2B carcinogen, a ‘attainable carcinogen to people,’ primarily based on research with lab rats inhaling the chemical. The European Union has already banned titanium dioxide as a meals additive and will lengthen the ban to prescribed drugs subsequent yr. So, as we owls are need to say, Whooo within the hoot is chargeable for permitting an Alabama-based firm to drag-mine some 600-acres in our Okefenokee for these things?”
“That’s a great query, Howland. It’s my rivalry that Gov. Brian Kemp may shut it down simply as former Gov. Zell Miller did some 25 years earlier. However he appears to have been tied up on different issues, like recognizing the birthday of the U.S. House Pressure and never returning telephone calls from columnists. Even governors have priorities. Sure, Beauregard. You’ve your paw up?”
“Pogo, because the sleuth of this outfit, I believe the governor could also be taking the lengthy view. My sources inform me he has political aspirations down the highway, both U.S. senator and even maybe the presidency. To take credit score for all People having an infinite provide of toothpaste whitener and for them to have the ability to dye their cupcakes any shade they want could possibly be an enormous plus for his marketing campaign. As for the difficulty of respiratory titanium dioxide mud, that’s the lab rats’ downside they usually have a historical past of not voting, anyway.”
“Thanks, Beauregard. That’s very astute. I believe Mademoiselle Hephzibah has one thing she needs to say, as effectively.”
“Merci, Monsieur Pogo. As a skunk, albeit a French skunk, I do know stink after I scent it and this entire factor stinks. You’ve bought the state senate majority chief, Steve Gooch, saying whether or not or to not permit Twin Pines Minerals to drag-mine our Okefenokee is a regulatory concern, not legislative. That stinks. You’ve bought the chair of the Home Pure Sources & Atmosphere Committee, Lynn Smith, ignoring the issues of Georgians and telling them in impact to go pound sand. That basically stinks. Sacre Bleu!”
“Effectively stated, mademoiselle. I believe it’s time to wrap issues up and head again to the swamp.I need to thank all of the members of the Okefenokee Creatures Affiliation in your participation at the moment. I’m unsure we’ve made a lot headway in stopping the drag-mining of our beloved swamp however we’re in good firm. I’ve a good friend who thinks he’s a big-deal columnist and who has expounded on this topic for months and he doesn’t appear to be making any headway, both.”
“In conclusion, you may have heard me say many instances, ‘We now have met the enemy and he’s us.’ That’s not true. We now have a brand new enemy. Twin Pines Minerals and anyone who turns a blind eye to drag-mining our Okefenokee. Don’t overlook that. Assembly adjourned.”
You may attain Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Field 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
