A whistle blower inside SCANA sounded the nuclear alarm 2 years ago.
Carlette Walker, SCANA’s former nuclear construction vice president of finance left a voicemail with a key Santee Cooper executive:
“I know the truth now, and I don’t want you and Santee to get screwed,” she said in the voicemail to Marion Cherry, a Santee Cooper on-site executive, before she quit in 2016.
“They are mismanaging that project, and it’s at y’all’s expense. They’re all on the frigging take...”
SCANA spokesman Eric Boomhower said Walker raised several concerns before she left the company, mostly “personnel issues.”
One was a question about whether SCANA had done enough in 2015 to disclose problems, he said.
Her warnings were ignored and Santee Cooper’s board voted to continue work with SCANA on the failing nuclear project another year, the Charleston Post and Courier reported.
That decision cost Santee Cooper and SCANA’s SC Electric & Gas ratepayers billion of dollars in charges.
Walker is now a key witness in lawsuits that may determine what went wrong with the $9 billion nuclear project and who should pay for its failure – utility executives, SCANA investors or ratepayers.
Walker will be deposed in 5 ratepayer lawsuits against Lexington County-based SCANA. She has yet to testify under oath.
In the voicemail obtained by the Post and Courier, Walker accused SCANA’s leaders of keeping the nuclear project going to boost profits and award millions in executive bonuses.
“They are all of the same cloth,” she said of SCANA executives in the voicemail.
“They all think they’re the smartest guys in the room.”
Walker should help lawmakers and trial attorneys prove SCANA executives hid many problems from the Public Service Commission and Office of Regulatory Staff in requests for 9 electric rate increases.
The voicemail shows for the first time the concerns of SCANA’s executives.
Walker headed SCANA’s project finance team, overseeing the multi-million dollar payments the company made to its contractors. 
She was rewarded with pay raises, earning more than $565,000 in 2015.
Walker declined to discuss the voicemail with The Post and Courier, referring questions to her West Columbia attorney, Jake Moore Sr. who did not respond to phone calls or questions sent via email.