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Santee Cooper suing SCE&G over VC Summer project

The state-owned utility alleged that SCE&G's negligence and fraud caused billions of dollars to be wasted on the project.

Santee Cooper has filed a lawsuit in state court this week against South Carolina Electric and Gas.

The two worked together as partners in the VC Summer Nuclear Project that ultimately failed back in July of 2017.

The state-owned utility alleged that SCE&G's negligence and fraud caused billions of dollars to be wasted on the project.

Time has passed, and after a year and five months since construction stopped on two nuclear reactors, this is the first time Santee Cooper has formally accused SCE&G in court of misconduct in the project.

As we scroll through the lawsuit, Santee Cooper lists out the reasons why they're suing their former partner.

The state-owned utility says they worked to make sure the project stayed on track and within budget.

They say they wanted to improve SCE&G's oversight and performance on the project but SCE&G "ignored Santee Cooper's proposals."

Going to the very next claim, Santee Cooper says, "SCE&G willfully and intentionally did not confront Westinghouse or the Consortium about their failure to manage the project..."

For those of you who may not remember, Westinghouse was the main contractor over the project that ultimately went bankrupt and was bought out by Toshiba.

Flipping over a few pages, Santee Cooper claims that SCE&G failed, "to exercise even slight care," and because of that, they've suffered "attorney's fees, courts costs" to defend themselves in this situation.

Santee Cooper goes on to say that they are, "entitled to damages arising from SCE&G's gross negligence."

According to court records, SCE&G has not responded to the suit as of yet.

We did reach out to SCE&G for a response on the lawsuit and they sent News 19 the following statement:

“We deny Santee Cooper’s allegations. Santee Cooper was a co-owner and active participant in the decision-making process and oversight of the V.C. Summer project. We believe any claim from Santee Cooper lacks legal merit and ignores its accountability for the termination of the project and the significant losses suffered by both companies.”

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