The parent company of one of the utilities that abandoned a nuclear power project in South Carolina says two of its top executives are retiring. The moves come as SCANA faces scrutiny over the failure to complete an expansion of the V.C Summer Nuclear Plant.
SCANA, the parent company of South Carolina Electric and Gas, has announced Chairman and CEO Kevin Marsh will step down effective January 1st. In a release, SCANA says Marsh will be replaced by two people – lead independent director Maybank Hagood will become the chairman, and chief financial officer Jimmy Addison will become CEO. SCANA says its chief operating officer at SCE&G will also retire effective January first.
According to The State newspaper, Marsh denied reports over the weekend that he was leaving the company. On Monday, South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas called for Marsh to step down.
SCE&G and state-owned utility Santee Cooper have come under fire for halting the building of two nuclear reactors at the plant just north of Columbia. The two utilities spent $9 billion on the project over a decade before abandoning the project in July. Ratepayers have already been charged $2 billion to pay interest on the debt.
Gov. Henry McMaster says the decision indicates that SCANA is beginning to fully understand the devastating consequences of abandoning the V.C. Summer project.
"Any effort to regain the public's trust starts with no longer charging ratepayers for this failed project, and refunding them the money they've already paid for it," says McMaster.
