(Lake Marion, Orangeburg County) - When Buck Travis heard there were plans to build a port on the shores of Lake Marion, he couldn’t believe his ears.

"First instinct was that they were kidding," said Buck. "Now I realize that they’re serious, and we need to do something about it."

For him, that meant starting a petition in and around Santee. He says many of his neighbors agree with him, that an inland port would be awful for the lake.

"Most definitely. It’s so asinine, it has to be stopped."

Carolinks, the Charleston-based company that wants to build the port, says there’s nothing to worry about.

"I think the people that are raising this question in some hysterical way need to understand that this is already happening," said President and CEO Lucy Duncan, talking about shipping on Lake Marion. "It’s not something we’ve invented."

She says they’ve already secured 800 acres around Lake Marion, and that their port will definitely become a reality. The big issue around Santee: will barges come up the Cooper River from the Port of Charleston carrying large containers?

Buck believes it would ruin the sanctity of the lake.

"You got people out there water-skiing, pulling inner-tubes with their kids … how dangerous is it gonna be with the barges here also?"

Lucy says it’s still not certain whether or not barges would be part of the equation. But even if they were, she doesn’t see the problem.

"No (this would not harm Lake Marion). Absolutely not, how could it?" said Lucy. "Does it compete with recreational activity? That can be mitigated. We can work at night, they can work at day. There’s all kinds of ways to mitigate."

But on Lake Marion, her kind of optimism doesn’t seem to be wide-spread.

While Carolinks says their port will definitely be built soon, they couldn’t give an exact date when they expect to be finished. They expect to break ground sometime during the summer of 2007.