RIDGELAND -- As Jasper County officials continue wrestling with the S.C. State Ports Authority over who can build a shipping terminal on Georgia-owned land on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, Georgia senators may be looking to work with South Carolina to develop the highly contested $450 million cargo container terminal.

The Ports Authority last month filed suit in the S.C. Supreme Court claiming it has the sole or superior power to build and operate shipping ports in South Carolina.

Jasper attorneys, who have maintained that not allowing the county to pursue a marine terminal is a violation of home rule, fired back Feb. 18. They cited the Revenue Bond Act for Utilities, part of the S.C. Code of Laws, that allows counties to issue bonds specifically for the development of terminals.

"The facts of this case will speak for itself," Jasper County deputy administrator Rose Dobson said Wednesday. "State statute allows the county to use certain financing products for the purpose of developing a marine terminal."

The Georgia Department of Transportation filed its own suit in federal court against the county claiming that Jasper's agreement with port builder SSA Marine doesn't constitute a public use -- a key criteria for condemning land.

Jasper County administrator Andrew Fulghum doesn't think anything the county puts forth will meet approval in Georgia.

"I'm not sure anything we do will convince Georgia that we're in the public interest," he said. "Frankly, the Supreme Court is the one we have to convince."

The legal contention between Jasper County and the Ports Authority is part of a declaratory judgment lawsuit process. The Supreme Court will rule on the matter once both sides conclude their arguments. However, in the response from Feb. 18, Jasper County's attorneys requested a discovery period, which could bring all parties involved directly before the high court.

"We believe the plan in place and the agreements meet the guidelines for public good as was outlined in the Supreme Court (in 2003)," Dobson said. "The points that we've addressed, with the current agreement, clearly shows it's for the public good."

Fulghum released Jasper County's second response to the Ports Authority's lawsuit late Tuesday night from Columbia after the document was filed in the Supreme Court on Feb. 18.

But on Tuesday, Georgia senators voted 51-0 in favor of creating a Jasper Port Study Committee that would work to minimize the financial impact another port on the Savannah River could have on the Port of Savannah.

"The two states can cooperate and benefit from a port if its management and operations are designed not to harm the Charleston and Savannah ports," Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, who sponsored the legislation, said Wednesday. "The only way to make the Jasper port not hurt Charleston or Savannah is to work together."

The Georgia House is expected to decide on the bill in March, Johnson said.

In Columbia, state Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, is working on similar legislation to bring together the two states' efforts.

"Our best efforts are probably to give some energy and direction to the (Ports Authority) until we find out who's running the show," Richardson said Wednesday. "We haven't determined who's in charge on our side of the river."

Whereas the Georgia legislation aims to create a joint committee between the Georgia and South Carolina general assemblies, the South Carolina legislation, which has not been introduced, targets creating an agreement between the two state ports authorities.