State lawmakers in South Carolina were set this week to approve distribution of $525 million from a federal settlement the state won in 2020 after the Department of Energy failed to meet deadlines for removing plutonium from the Savannah River Site.
The bicameral state legislature’s House and Senate each were set to convene at 12 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday following Friday’s passage by the joint House-Senate Budget Conference Committee of a compromise appropriations bill that will spread money from the federal settlement around South Carolina.
Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties, the three closest to the Savannah River Site, were set to take about 65% of the total, local media reported Friday. That roughly matches the total the South Carolina Senate recommended in February. Some South Carolina House lawmakers wanted a bigger cut.
The 2020 settlement, related to DOE’s inability to dispose of surplus weapon-usable plutonium and other plutonium, was the largest in state history. It totaled $600 million, though private attorneys who assisted with the case took about $75 million for themselves.