RIDGELAND -- The Georgia Department of Transportation on Thursday rejected Jasper County's $8.5 million bid to buy 1,863 acres on the Savannah River for construction of a shipping port.

Jasper has been working to bring a port to the area for 10 years. For the last four years, it has partnered with SSA Marine, the world's largest port developer, in an effort to bring the project to fruition.

Georgia uses the land targeted for Jasper's proposed $450 million port for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge spoil from Port of Savannah expansions upriver.

"We have responsibilities to maintain that river, and by selling (Jasper) that property, we wouldn't meet our responsibilities," Harold Linnenkohl, Georgia's transportation commissioner, said Thursday.

Jasper filed a notice of condemnation in the Jasper County Court of Common Pleas on Wednesday to acquire the land, a day before the Jan. 20 deadline the county set last week for Georgia DOT to sell the property.

"Apparently there is a time frame difference between Georgia and South Carolina seeing as they filed a day early," Linnenkohl said Thursday.

The Georgia Attorney General's office is working to fight the condemnation, he said.

Jasper County officials dispute Georgia's reason for not selling the land.

"The letter is nonsensical based on the correspondence the county has had with the U.S. Corps of Engineers," Jasper County administrator Andrew Fulghum said of Georgia DOT's response.

The S.C. State Ports Authority also is targeting the land. It started that process Wednesday with a lawsuit against Jasper County and the Jasper County Port Authority seeking a judgment from the S.C. Supreme Court declaring that "Jasper County lacks the power or authority to develop a port on the Savannah River and/or create a ports authority to develop a port on the Savannah River," the lawsuit states.

In September 2003, the Supreme Court ruled against Jasper's first attempt at condemnation, stating that a commercially owned and operated port would not meet the required public use, a fundamental factor for condemnation. Jasper broke from the state Ports Authority in September 2004, creating its own county Port Authority.

Earlier this month, Jasper County Council approved an exclusive finance, development and management pact with South Atlantic International Terminal, a local subsidiary of SSA Marine.

The events of the past week have garnered the attention of legislators on both sides of the Savannah River.

The Georgia Senate is expected to consider a bill Monday that would create a Joint Port Authority for the Port of Savannah Study Committee that would consider options for building a second port on the Savannah River.

The committee would include three members of the Georgia Senate, three members of the Georgia House of Representatives, and three citizens to be appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Although the bill doesn't mention including South Carolina legislators in the process, Sen. Ed Harbison, a co-sponsor of the proposal, said Georgia would reach out to its neighbor.

"Once we get to the passage of this bill, we will reach out officially to our neighbors in South Carolina to make sure we are on the same page, and I believe they will be with us," he said. "What's good for South Carolina is good for Georgia."

The resolution will be brought to the Senate floor Monday and most likely sent to the Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee.

News of Georgia's legislative plan came as a surprise to South Carolina Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland, who said it's similar to one proposed years ago.

"I haven't heard any details from anyone on our side," he said. "But I am open to such a thing."