RIDGELAND -- As a legal battle brews over the site of a proposed $450 million shipping terminal in Jasper County, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials say they're the only group that can operate on the land up for grabs, regardless of who owns it.

Jasper County has tried for more than a decade to bring a port to its side of the Savannah River but had its bid to buy 1,863 acres owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation rejected last week. A day before the offer was denied, the county had filed paperwork to condemn the land.

The corps uses the land to hold dredge spoil from upriver expansions of the Port of Savannah. Federal officials say regardless of who owns the land, the corps isn't required to release its rights to the property.

"If the (Georgia Department of Transportation) released its ownership of the land, the corps would retain its easement interest, which would prohibit any use of the land other than for placement of dredged material," Jeanne Hodge, spokeswoman for the corps, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette on Monday.

The corps doesn't have an alternative spoil site on the Savannah River and is unlikely to consider dumping dredge into the Atlantic Ocean, a practice used along the coast, according to Hodge. The corps spokeswoman said dumping dredge into the Atlantic would be "cost prohibitive" and isn't a feasible option.

GeorgiaDepartment of Transportation officials say they wouldn't be fulfilling their obligation to the federal government if they sold the site. The department owns 10,740 acres along the Savannah River in Jasper County, of which 5,973 acres can be used to hold dredge spoil, Georgia Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl said Tuesday.

"Take that 1,800 acres and we're losing a lot of usable land," he said. "They want to take a third of our property that we can use."

Jasper's plans to build the new port also have been met head-on by the S.C. State Ports Authority, which has expressed its interest in acquiring the land. The authority has filed a lawsuit against the county in the South Carolina Supreme Court challenging Jasper's ability to build and operate a port on the Savannah River.

In its letter rejecting Jasper County's offer to buy the land, the Georgia Department of Transportation asked the county for an alternative spoil site.

"That issue and the relations with the Army Corps of Engineers have been figured into our plan," Jasper County administrator Andrew Fulghum said Tuesday.

Officials in Jasper County and at the State Ports Authority have mentioned the possibility of building new spoil sites on the Savannah River, but neither group has drafted a plan.

Additional spoil sites, Fulghum said, will be planned as the port is developed and permitted.

"It was stated in the prior court case that the corps cannot speak to anyone but the land owner," he said. "The county is prepared to talk to the Corps of Engineers when we get title to that property."

In September 2003, Jasper County's first attempt at acquiring the land was shot down by the state Supreme Court.

In the case, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stated it was only able to discuss the spoil site with the land owner, the Georgia Department of Transportation. Jasper County lost the case as the high court ruled the condemnation did not meet the required public use.

Last week, Jasper County made another attempt to seize the land, filing for condemnation in the Jasper County Court of Common Pleas in Ridgeland.