Miscellaneous
The debate over what to do with South Carolina's embattled state-owned utility Santee Cooper has dragged on for years. Lawmakers knew they had to do something with it — whether that be sell the utility, reform it or turn over its management — after it lost more than $4 billion in the failed expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, which is widely considered to be the biggest business failure in the state's history.That project fell apart in July 2017, and a path forward for Santee Cooper just became clearer in the last week. NextEra Energy, the firm that had been lobbying to buy it, withdrew its bid, making it likely the utility will stay under state ownership, at least for now.This week on the podcast, reporters Andrew Brown and Avery Wilks, who have been following this story for years, explain the arguments that have been at play this debate, what the stakes have been and what's next now that the bid from NextEra is off the table and lawmakers are working to pass reforms.Listen now for more.Understand SC is a weekly podcast from The Post and Courier that draws from the reporting resources and knowledge of our newsroom to help you better understand South Carolina. This episode was hosted by Emily Williams, produced by Emily Williams and Matt Rasnic and edited by Emily Williams.