Georgia county files suit to force land sale for spaceport

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia county has filed a lawsuit that seeks to force a company to sell it 4,000 acres on which the county has long planned to build a launch pad for commercial rockets. Coastal Camden County took legal action just days after Union Carbide Corp. said it no longer intends to sell the land, citing a March referendum in which county residents voted to kill the deal. Camden County has spent more than a decade and $11 million pursuing a spaceport for launching satellites into orbit. Critics fear the project would pose safety and environmental risks that outweigh any economic benefits. The lawsuit filed Wednesday contends Union Carbide violated a binding agreement to sell land to the county.