Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell is having legislation prepared aimed at ending the infighting between a state agency and local government over the development of a major port project in Jasper County. What a welcome development that would be. Instead of being diverted by internal bickering, all the state's resources should be directed toward acquiring the site from the state of Georgia.

The internal battling within the Legislature has become of such concern to the State Ports Authority that it employed two contract lobbyists to try to counter what officials said was incorrect information. That rightly raised the ire of Rep. Jim Merrill of Daniel Island, who has been trying unsuccessfully to bring an end to state agencies hiring contract lobbyists.

Speaker Harrell told us Friday that he doesn't believe the SPA has need of the lobbyists, but understands the frustration. He noted that "the folks who are pushing Jasper County have hired a battery of lobbyists." SPA officials were concerned, he said, that "the message against the Ports Authority would get a lot of play and the message for wouldn't get much play.

All the members of the SPA board have full-time jobs," he said, and can't spend considerable time in Columbia trying to counter lobbying for the Jasper County position.

The Jasper lobbyists actually are working through SSA Marine, the Seattle-based shipping company that has been aligned with Jasper County in an effort to construct and operate a port on the 1,800-acre site owned by the state of Georgia. The state Supreme Court previously struck down Jasper's effort to condemn the site on behalf of the private company as unconstitutional. Since then, the Jasper proposal has been altered to make the county the port operator in an effort to meet the court's objection. But more recently, the high court has agreed with the SPA that it has a superior right of eminent domain over Jasper to condemn the site.

Unfortunately, the SPA's effort to condemn the site is being fought not only by the state of Georgia but Jasper County, both in court and in the Legislature. A Jasper County official estimated several months ago that SSA Marine already has spent some $5 million for fees to consultants, attorneys and lobbyists.

Speaker Harrell said he is sympathetic to concerns in Jasper County that the SPA isn't really serious about developing a port on the site. He contends, however, that while three or four years ago that concern might have been legitimate, "today the SPA is entirely committed to building a port in Jasper County."

To allay any fears that won't happen, he said the legislation will direct the SPA to develop and operate the Jasper site, make it clear it is the only entity so empowered and ensure the development includes a public-private partnership.

Passage of the legislation, according to the speaker, "is critically important." He adds, "For the state's long-term economic health we need to get the port built and we have got to stop this fighting between a state and county government."

Of course the speaker's right. To date, the only beneficiaries of this failure to come to terms are port operators in other states that compete with South Carolina's SPA.