Jasper County officials are closely following the legal battle between Georgia and South Carolina over the right to develop a Savannah River port, taking advantage of the "friend of the court" status a judge granted them last month, County Administrator Andrew Fulghum said Tuesday.

Circuit Court Judge Ernest Kinard Jr. ruled Jan. 17 that the county could not block the S.C. State Ports Authority's condemnation of 1,800 acres the Georgia Department of Transportation owns in Jasper County. Kinard will decide whether the condemnation can go forward once the two states prepare their cases.

Jasper County had also moved to condemn the land, but Kinard's ruling gave precedence to the Ports Authority's condemnation. Georgia challenged both claims.

If the Ports Authority loses its lawsuit, the county's will move forward and be given the same consideration.

In the meantime, the county can observe all proceedings and correspondence on the Ports Authority's case.

The issue is receiving significant attention across the state, Fulghum said.

"There is a tremendous amount of activity in Columbia now surrounding the Jasper port issue," he said.

Fulghum said Jack West, son of former Gov. John West, has been lobbying the legislature on behalf of the county to resolve the issue.

Helen Pittman, assistant to the county's delegation of state legislators, said she expects one or more bills on the issue to be introduced on the House floor next week.

While many people support Jasper County's plans to build and operate a port privately, others support the Ports Authority's claim to be the sole operator of ports in the state. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said last month he planned to introduce a bill to codify that claim.

Fulghum said there is also support in the legislature for the county's plans to develop the port privately. Private port developer and operator SSA Marine laid out a plan for a Jasper port in January 2005, but that plan has been on hold since both the Ports Authority and Georgia challenged the county's claim to the land in the last two years. County officials had pursued the private plan after criticizing the Ports Authority for moving too slowly on the project.

"We have been answering questions from a wide variety of individuals who have an interest in seeing a Jasper port now versus later," Fulghum said.

Measures that have been discussed among legislators go "in every direction," Pittman said.