Jasper County was struck by a thunderbolt Friday when officials learned - through a newspaper reporter - that the S.C. State Ports Authority is seeking proposals for a private partner to develop a marine terminal on the Savannah River south of Hardeeville.

Actually, Jasper County officials who have worked for a privately-financed shipping terminal for years shouldn't be surprised at anything the state ports authority does these days. After years of indifference to Jasper County's efforts to develop and own a marine terminal that would bring millions of dollars in private investment, tax base, numerous businesses and hundreds of jobs, the state ports authority suddenly announces it and only it has the right to build a terminal on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.

On Friday, the ports authority said in a news release it "reaches out to private firms across the globe, soliciting their involvement in port expansion projects in Charleston and Jasper County." Fine, but just who are these "private firms across the globe" and where can we find a copy of this request for proposals, by law a public document?

Jasper County has had a relationship for years with a marine terminal operator, SSA Marine, which is willing to spend hundreds of millions of private dollars to build and manage a shipping terminal on behalf of Jasper County, the state of South Carolina and all of our citizens and taxpayers.

Yet the state ports authority claims it is "opening the doors to the world's leading ocean carriers and marine terminal operators" in order to "benefit our state's public seaport system and fair trade in South Carolina."

As of Monday, SSA Marine, one of the world's leading marine terminal operators and port stevedoring firms, had not received a request for proposal from the SPA.

We have to wonder who has.

And Jasper County officials haven't heard boo from the ports authority either. Maybe they'll hear from their attorneys, since the authority is suing Jasper County anyway to stop the county from condemning Georgia-owned land in Jasper County for the terminal site.

The bottom line here is the bottom line. The ports authority, which is in great financial shape and can raise money through bond sales, doesn't seem ready to spend money to expand the public terminals in Charleston or develop a new terminal in Jasper County. The ports authority recently asked the state Legislature for $5 million to conduct a feasibility study on the Charleston expansion, at the former Navy base. Authority officials have said the Navy base terminal will cost about the same as Jasper County's, $450 million. But access between the Charleston terminal to Interstate 26 is expected to cost another $300 million.

You better believe the state ports authority needs "private sector partners." Thing is, however, the authority should concentrate on Charleston, and leave Jasper County to Jasper County.