SC counties sue AG to stop $600 million in plutonium deal from going elsewhere

A lawsuit filed in South Carolina state court is seeking to block any effort by Attorney General Alan Wilson to give to the state’s general fund the $600 million South Carolina is expected to get for settling a longstanding plutonium lawsuit.

The $600 million should not go to to the state’s general fund for disbursement around South Carolina, but to the seven counties in western South Carolina that have been most hurt by having tons of plutonium in their geographic area for many years, the counties said in a press release Thursday afternoon that announced a lawsuit against Wilson.

Asked for comment, Wilson’s office released the following statement: “We believe the lawsuit has no merit and we will respond appropriately. Our office will follow the law that says the General Assembly has the sole ability to appropriate funds.”

The settlement ended a years-long battle between South Carolina and the U.S. Department of Energy over removing the deadly plutonium from South Carolina.

Actually, the money at issue may be $525 million. In a recent press conference, Wilson said $75 million will go to two private Columbia law firms who did legal work on getting the $600 million settlement.

In the lawsuit, the counties say they will suffer “irreparable harm” if Wilson pays the money into the state’s general fund. The counties are asking a judge to block any attempt by Wilson to put the funds where the General Assembly’s 170 lawmakers can decide what to do with the money.

The counties are asking to have a judge issue an injunction or a temporary restraining order against Wilson. They also are asking a judge to require Wilson to put all the money into an interest-bearing account until a court can rule where the funds should go.

A press release on the lawsuit said it was filed in state court in Barnwell County by Allendale and Barnwell counties and the Southern Carolina Alliance, an economic development group that represents seven counties, including Allendale and Barnwell, where most of the U. S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS) is located.

Under the settlement with Wilson, the Department of Energy has agreed to remove the plutonium — a deadly radioactive substance — over the next 20 years.

Having so much of such a deadly substance in the area has caused businesses who might have otherwise located in that part of South Carolina to go elsewhere, said Danny Black, Southern Carolina Alliance president and CEO in an affidavit attached to the lawsuit.

The loss of those prospects is a “significant blow” to the region’s economy, Black said.

Gov. Henry McMaster has objected to Wilson’s deal but his objections were focused on the $75 million fee to private lawyers and the extended time period Wilson is allowing for the plutonium to be removed from South Carolina.

At the center of this lawsuit are the more than nine metric tons (a metric ton is a little more than 2,000 pounds) of weapons-grade plutonium, shipped to a facility in Barnwell County in the early 2000s. Plutonium is used to make nuclear bombs.

Local leaders believed the plutonium, which was supposed to be converted into a type of nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, would be an “economic boon” to the area, creating more than 1,100 jobs, the lawsuit said. But that promise was never realized and Barnwell County was stuck with the dangerous material.

“The real impact to Plaintiffs is the continuing stigma of being considered a nuclear waste dump, much of which has been caused by media coverage about the Department of Energy’s failure to remove plutonium from SRS. This stigma has caused and will continue to cause damage to Plaintiffs by hampering their ability to attract industry to the area.”

The lawsuit asserted that other areas of South Carolina, mentioning Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Columbia, are not affected by the storage of nuclear waste.

Consequently, the lawsuit said, the millions obtained by Wilson should not be appropriated for things like “beach re-nourishment in Myrtle Beach, historical preservation in Charleston or economic development in Greenville or Columbia. “

The funds should only be spent for economic development and related environmental concerns in Barnwell, Allendale and surrounding areas, the lawsuit said.

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, is the counties’ lawyer.

State circuit Judge Clifton Newman has been appointed to hear the case.

This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.