Gov. McMaster urges South Carolina lawmakers to back sale of Santee Cooper

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster is urging state lawmakers to back his plans to sell Santee Cooper after the state-owned electric utility amassed $4.3 billion in debt on an abandoned Fairfield County nuclear plant expansion.

&quot R)atepayers and industrial customers face the prospect of future rate increases to pay off billions of dollars in construction debt for two nuclear reactors that may never be completed," McMaster wrote in a letter to legislators dated Thursday that was obtained by The Post and Courier. "We need to provide the ratepayers and our state with the best solution possible, one which recognizes the valuable contributions of current and former employees of Santee Cooper, both now and in the future. The only feasible solutions suggested so far involve the sale of the State’s public utility Santee Cooper."

The governor is lobbying the Legislature because lawmakers must approve any sale of Santee Cooper. Some legislators and 2018 governor candidates, including Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant, have questioned the wisdom of selling the New Deal-era utility. Bryant called putting Santee Cooper on the block so quickly a "knee-jerk reaction."

The governor's letter came as Santee Cooper's board named a former insider to become interim chief executive over McMaster's pick.

Read more: http://www.postandcourier.com/politics/gov-mcmaster-urges-south-carolina-lawmakers-to-back-sale-of/article_5ed49342-ac70-11e7-abba-4fbadd863e4b.html