(Published January 24‚ 2004)

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - Georgia officials are paying attention to talks across the border about a tract of land the state owns in South Carolina that has been eyed for a new port along the Savannah River.

Georgia officials said Friday that the state has no immediate plans to develop a container terminal in South Carolina.

The pledge follows Thursday's revelation that the South Carolina State Ports Authority is considering condemning the 1,700-acre tract in Jasper County in response to fears that Georgia might expand its port there first.

The Georgia Department of Transportation owns the land in Jasper County. The Army Corps of Engineers holds a perpetual easement on the site for dumping dredge material from the river.

"The state of Georgia doesn't currently have specific plans to deviate from this purpose," said Derrick Dickey, a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Jasper County officials who desperately want a port fear they may be caught in the middle as Georgia and South Carolina wrangle over which state might end up controlling 1,700 acres in the county.

But State Ports Authority board member Glen Kilgore said the authority has no immediate plans to condemn the land on which Jasper County officials hope to develop a $350 million deep-water port.

Gov. Mark Sanford spoke by telephone with Perdue on Friday afternoon to discuss the Jasper County port issue, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.

"They had a productive discussion and look forward to continuing the discussion next week," Folks said, declining to elaborate.

What is known is that officials from Jasper County and the private firm that wants to build a terminal on the site have been in discussions with Georgia authorities regarding the land.

It's also no secret that the ports of Savannah and Charleston are fierce competitors, running neck and neck for the title of the nation's fourth-busiest container port. Charleston now holds the edge.

If the SPA does initiate condemnation proceedings, Georgia is prepared to respond, just as it did when Jasper County tried the same thing three years ago.

The county's action was overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court in September. The justices ruled the proposed terminal didn't fit the definition of a public use.

The Supreme Court ruled a government should not seize land and turn it over to another owner "on vague grounds of public benefit."

Jasper County is back at the drawing board. County officials are trying to persuade Georgia to drop its objections. If not, the county is prepared to form its own port authority and make another run at condemning the land, said Jasper County attorney Tom Johnson.