COLUMBIA,
S.C. (AP) - Two Lowcountry legislators have co-sponsored a bill that
would form a deep-water port partnership with Georgia.
"We've been working on something like this for a long time, and
now we're working with our colleagues in Georgia to get something
moving," said state Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island. "If
we can come together and stop competing so ferociously, both states
and our ports will benefit."
Richardson and co-sponsor Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland,
said they don't think the partnership with Georgia will jeopardize a
port proposal in Jasper County.
Jasper County is working closely with Stevedoring Services of
America, a private Seattle-based company, to develop a $450 million
deep-water port terminal on a portion of 1,776 acres of land that
the county is trying to condemn.
The land, on the Savannah River several miles closer to the
Atlantic Ocean than the Georgia Ports Authority's Garden City
container cargo terminals, is owned by Georgia's Department of
Transportation.
The South Carolina Supreme Court on May 13 is to hear the Georgia
agency's appeal of the condemnation as approved by Circuit Court
Judge Perry Buckner last year.
The proposal for the Jasper port is still a go, pending the
Supreme Court's hearing and decision, said Stevedoring Services of
America Regional Vice President Jake Coakley.
The Richardson-Pinckney port bill says there would be "certain
benefits to be realized by both states sharing information regarding
a proposed port operation on both the north and south sides of the
Savannah River."
If Georgia and South Carolina pooled their resources,
"environmental factors affected by the river deepening" for harbor
maintenance could be minimized, according to the bill.
But Jasper County Administrator Henry Moss questions whether the
states will agree to work together.
"We tried three years ago to get the two states to work together
on a port in Jasper County," Moss said. "Nobody wanted to play."
If the bill is approved, Richardson said he thinks Gov. Mark
Sanford will be supportive and work with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue
to begin setting up a bilateral commission to study the idea.
The study will include estimating the costs and financial
arrangements for setting up an interstate port authority for the
Savannah River, Richardson said.
Information from: Savannah Morning News
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