A lot of the land around lakes Moultrie and Marion is leased land owned by Santee Cooper. Many of the people who live right around the lake pay a lease each year to Santee Cooper.

Talk of a possible sale of Santee Cooper has a number of folks concerned. Barry Currie has lived on leased land in Thornley Forest for 18 years. “Well I’ve been worried about it. I’m sure everybody out here is. If they sell Santee Cooper that means me along with everybody else, that puts us in limbo.”

Currie and his neighbors say a Santee Cooper sale is scary.

We took those concerns to Santee Cooper’s spokeswoman, Mollie Gore. “We have about 2000 leases that fall with in what we call the project boundary, and we are required to own the property within the boundary as part of… our federal license.”

In other words, most of their leased properties around their generating facilities, like Thornley Forest, must remain leased property due to federal regulations, whether Santee Cooper owns them or not.

Around 200 properties CAN be sold, and Santee Cooper has already been in the process of selling them as their leases come due.

Still, residents are worried, “It is on everyone’s mind out here. Santee Cooper sells, you’ve got people that have lived here since the 60s. It’s on everyone’s mind.”