LITCHFIELD - Santee Cooper helped Georgetown County get a new industry in a way that a private company would not have done, several speakers said Monday at the second round of state Senate hearings on the utility's operations and how it is governed.

Al Burns, economic-development director for Georgetown County, said Santee Cooper "stepped up in a very strong way to help bring this industry here."

Earlier in the day, county officials and those from Santee Cooper and Gov. Mark Sanford announced that American Gypsum will invest $125 million in a wallboard plant in Georgetown County.

The plant will use synthetic gypsum created as a byproduct in Santee Cooper's pollution-control devices.

A Senate subcommittee is gauging public sentiment over talk that the state-owned utility could be sold and whether its board should be subject to removal without cause by the governor.

James Sanderson, president of the United Steelworkers Local 7898 in Georgetown, said he was speaking for the workers and management at International Steel Group because it depends on stable electricity prices.

"We're very much concerned with discussion surrounding messing with Santee Cooper," Sanderson said.

The lower power rates are an important business recruitment tool, he said, and if a private company charged regular rates, the region would have no extra attraction for new business.

Ralph Strong, retired from for-profit Progress Energy, said he competed and cooperated with Santee Cooper for years and it is an efficient organization.

"They have performed well, and I see no reason why they should become a whipping boy for anything," Strong said.

Strong said the utility might need to do more education on its operations because "I have heard people say Santee Cooper is a tax drain on the state."

That may lead to talk of selling it, he said.

The reality is that the utility has never received state money, and each year it pays 1 percent of its revenue to the state.

Guerry Green, interim Santee Cooper board chairman, repeated his statement that Sanford has never mentioned selling the utility.

"There's not a wolf at the door," said Green, turning to the audience and mentioning that many were his neighbors or people with whom he goes to church.

"I agree with you that raising rates to give more money to the state is nothing but a tax increase," Green told the four senators on the subcommittee.

Some customers feared that possibility when Sanford asked the utility for money last year and the board agreed to contribute $13.5 million from the sale of property in addition to the regular 1 percent.

Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, said, "We wouldn't be here" if the board had not agreed to pay that extra money to the state last year.

No one would object if the money had gone to the state in the form of economic development such as the American Gypsum project, Rankin said.