nuke fiasco aftermath

The SC Electric & Gas nuclear fiasco may become a fall political issue.

Democratic governor nominee James Smith, a member of the House, was 1 of 4 votes against lowering SCE&G rates 15%.

Smith also voted against ending the state law allowing SCE&G to charge ratepayers for the $9 billion fiasco that may never produce any electric power.

Smith is running against Republican Gov. Henry Mc-Master who vetoed the bill.

McMaster said he wanted the entire 18% nuclear surcharge done away with. But was that his only reason?

As Lt. Gov. McMaster, he supported SCE&G’s owners, Lexington County-based SCANA before it abandoned its $9 billion nuclear project.

That cost 700,000 ratepayers $1.7 billion and is still charging them $37 million a month in rates.

A month after he succeeded Gov. Nikki Haley, he endorsed as “fair” the now unpopular law that allowed SCANA to charge ratepayers for $1.8 billion of the cost of the two failed reactors.

Since then, McMaster has called SCE&G’s abandonment “a jarring break of faith” with ratepayers.

He backed lawmakers, a federal grand jury, the SC attorney general and state law enforcement investigating what went wrong.

But that is now, and his relations with SCANA cover many years.

The powerful company’s executives courted the governor and showered him with campaign donations.

SCANA also wanted help in the bankruptcy of Westinghouse, the contractor blamed for many of its problems.

Then the relationship took a turn for the worst.

McMaster learned that SCANA planned to abandon the $9 billion project.

As much as he may like to, McMaster may have trouble shedding his past SCANA relationship in a race with Smith, a popular House Democrat and military veteran of the War on Terrorism.

According to emails obtained by The State newspaper, SCANA had McMaster’s influence a week after he was sworn in as governor.

McMaster helped by:

• Supporting the Base Load Review Act that allowed SCANA to charge its ratepayers for part of the reactors’ costs. Without the law, SCANA would have had to wait until the reactors were producing power.

• Appointing two SCANA executives to powerful state boards and helping arrange meetings with President Trump’s people about the future of its nuclear project.

• Signed a letter to the President for SCANA about threats to the project by Westinghouse’s delays and cost overruns and financial problems of the contractor’s owner, Toshiba of Japan

SCANA wanted Japan’s prime minister to ensure Toshiba met its obligations.

• The day Westinghouse declared bankruptcy, Mc-Master spoke to hundreds of SCANA employees at a retreat and invited executives to the Governor’s Mansion.

SCANA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Marsh hand-wrote a letter thanking Mc-Master for his hospitality.

“It was a real treat to get a personal tour and learn the history of the Governor’s Mansion,” Marsh wrote.

“I sincerely appreciate your support of SCANA, Santee (Cooper) and our nuclear project.”

In June a year ago – a month before it abandoned the project – SCANA and its employees donated more than $115,000 to McMaster’s election campaign.

One executive told friends he resented the way he was told how much to donate.

This made McMaster a major beneficiary of SCANA’s political giving.

He has said he will not return the donation.

He said he did what any governor would do to help a multibillion-dollar employer with 5,000 jobs at stake:

• He appealed to the White House and the SC congressional delegation to renew nuclear tax credits worth millions of dollars.

• He helped set up SCANA and Santee Cooper meetings with federal officials.

• He appointed SCANA Vice President Kenny Jackson to replace a Ports Authority commissioner who was critical of McMaster’s longtime political consultant, Richard Quinn. Quinn is father of former state Rep. Rick Quinn of Lexington.

SCANA also has employed Richard Quinn’s firm.

The governor says he aims to find a buyer for Santee Cooper, revive plans to build the SCE&G reactors or repay ratepayers some of the $1.8 billion they lost.