How would you spend SC’s $600M plutonium settlement? Here’s Gov. McMaster’s idea
With the state set to receive more than half-a-billion dollars from the federal government in the plutonium settlement, how that money gets spent will ultimately have to be decided by the General Assembly.
But on Monday, Gov. Henry McMaster weighed in on where most of the $600 million settlement should go.
Responding to a question posed during a virtual Aiken Rotary Club meeting, McMaster said he believes a majority of the $600 million should go to the area around the Savannah River Site.
The federal government recently agreed to pay South Carolina $600 million to settle a lawsuit. The lawsuit stemmed from the Department of Energy leaving tons of deadly plutonium at the Savannah River Site after a deal to convert the weapons-grade plutonium to be used for commercial purposes at a mixed oxide fuel plant fell through.
“The area around the Savannah River site is the area that ought to receive at least the majority, a good majority of these funds in one way or another,” McMaster said.
“It seems to me that because of the way the case arose ... that area should be prominently featured in the expenditure or investment of those funds,” he added.
A subsequent lawsuit has been filed against Attorney General Alan Wilson over how much private attorneys who assisted on the case should be paid. Wilson has planned to pay the attorneys $75 million.
McMaster also has objected to that amount.
Money from the settlement will eventually go into the state’s coffers, but it’s up to the General Assembly to decide where it gets spent, a discussion that will possibly take place next year. However, whether a majority of the cash goes to the area around the Savannah River Site remains to be seen.
Another lawsuit filed against Alan Wilson contends the money should go to the state’s western counties because they have struggled to develop economically with the plutonium in the area.
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, who represents South Carolina’s Second Congressional District, has said he believes the money should go to the area around the Savannah River Site saying Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties were most affected by the plutonium being left on the site.
“Through economic development initiatives, academic investment and rural broadband deployment, we can utilize these reparation funds exactly how the provisions in law outlined and create meaningful jobs in the Second District,” Wilson said when the settlement was announced.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 3:04 PM.
