For immediate release: Feb. 4, 1999

Contact: Mike Gauldin (202) 208-6416

Statement of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt
with regards to proposal to withdraw mining along the Okefenokee

"I am pleased to learn that DuPont and local residents, landowners, and Georgia conservation groups are working toward a consensus plan to save Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge from the effects of a proposed massive dredging and strip mining operation.

But I have strong reservations about their proposal -- as reported in today's papers -- calling for a grossly inflated $90 million buyout. We want to be fair to DuPont, but we have to be fair to taxpayers and that's our first responsibility. I just don't see how this deal, as reported, meets that test."