BEAUFORT - The State Ports Authority and the state of Georgia are working together to block a Jasper County port on the Savannah River, lawyers for the county say.

The lawyers argued Friday in Circuit Court that the county should be allowed to continue its efforts to build its own port because the state, which has priority over the land the county wants for a port operation, doesn't want to build a terminal there.

'Our case is that the Ports Authority is condemning the land in an anti-competition effort and will warehouse the land,' said Cam Lewis, who is representing the county. 'They have no real intention to build a port.'

Lewis also argued that the Georgia Transportation Department, which owns the land, doesn't want a port built either.

'They're in cahoots on delay,' Lewis said.

Mitch Brown, an attorney for the State Ports Authority, said the accusation was not true and that the state is actively pursuing the land to build a port in Jasper County.

Brown argued before Circuit Judge Roger Young that Jasper County lacked legal standing to intervene in the land condemnation case between the Ports Authority and the state of Georgia.

Young said he would rule on the county's motion to intervene and other matters within a month.

For its part, the state of Georgia is challenging all efforts to condemn the land it owns in Jasper County. The state uses the land to dump spoils from dredging operations.

But an attorney for that state asked the judge to choose who Georgia will have to fight.

'One of the issues still hanging out there is which entity we're facing,' said Rick Bybee, a lawyer for the Georgia Transportation Department. 'I'd like to see an answer to that.'

The South Carolina Ports Authority and the county have been arguing for years over building the port. In April, the state Supreme Court said Jasper County has the right to build a port on the Savannah River. But it also said the state has priority to condemn the land.