Columbia, S.C. - Governor Henry McMaster today released the following statement on the S.C. House of Representatives passing H.4376, a bill that, among other things, reforms the structure of Santee Cooper's Board of Directors and establishes a committee to study the sale of Santee Cooper:

“Santee Cooper is saddled with $8 billion dollars in debt - $4.3 billion of it comes from the failed VC Summer project. The leadership of this rogue agency has demonstrated on numerous occasions that their interest lies in protecting their own jobs rather than protecting their own ratepayers. As I have stated before — the only feasible solution to protect ratepayers from shouldering this debt is the sale of Santee Cooper.

Speaker Lucas and the House of Representatives have shown tremendous leadership with their efforts to protect the ratepayers of our state. This legislation will allow the future of Santee Cooper to be objectively determined through a transparent and accountable process that places the interests of taxpayers and ratepayers first. I applaud the House for taking this historic first step and urge the Senate to pass it without delay.”