In all, legislators took almost $500 million from more than 40 accounts when the state's economy was slumping, the governor said. That includes $90 million borrowed from the Barnwell Extended Maintenance Care Fund, an account that finances protection of the low-level nuclear waste site for the next 100 years.

If lawmakers had left the account alone in 2001 when it contained more than $100 million, the fund would have grown to $133.5 million this year, Mr. Sanford said.

The best part for taxpayers, he said, was that money in the account came from customers who shipped waste to the facility, located outside Savannah River Site in Barnwell County and run by Chem-Nuclear Systems.

Instead, the account contains just $23.3 million, which the governor says isn't enough to pay for long care protection of the site. And now residents will pay to restore the account, Mr. Sanford said after a news conference Tuesday at the facility.

"It's an additional tax on taxpayers across the state," he said.

The governor's executive budget calls for putting $158 million back in accounts that he says were "raided," including $25 million for the Barnwell account.

Mr. Sanford's visit coincided with a hearing in Columbia where an administrative law judge was deciding whether to revoke Chem-Nuclear's license to operate. The site stores radioactive wastes such as those from hospitals and nuclear power plants.

The Sierra Club of South Carolina has sued the private company and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which regulates the site.

The group contends that radioactive tritium from the burial ground leaked into a nearby stream that feeds the Savannah River and that safer storage methods are needed.

The judge isn't expected to issue an opinion for two months, said Deborah Ogilvie, a Chem-Nuclear spokeswoman.

Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com

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