SAS Officials Appear To Have Pocketed Renewable Tax Credits | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Company urges lawmakers to maintain renewable energy subsidies

    RALEIGH     Two of the co-founders of Cary-based software company SAS Institute Inc. - James H. Goodnight and John P. Sall - appear to have collected tax credits totaling more than $3 million from the state's renewable energy program even as their company is pushing state political leaders to maintain tax subsidies for the renewable energy industry.

    SAS issued a letter dated Wednesday to House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, urging lawmakers to keep in place the state's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard.

    The letter said that any changes to the REPS, which mandate how much and what type of renewable energy must be purchased by electric utilities, "would have a significant negative impact on the availability of renewable energy in the state." The state issues tax credits totaling 35 percent of the money investors spend on renewable projects.

    According to state Department of Revenue records, James H. Goodnight has received $2,109,025 in renewable energy tax credits since 2010, and John P. Sall has collected $1,059,123 in renewable tax credits over the same period.

    DOR privacy rules make it impossible to verify that the James H. Goodnight in the Revenue Department reports is SAS CEO James H. Goodnight, or that the John P. Sall in the reports is SAS co-founder and executive vice president John P. Sall.

    "Unfortunately, the secrecy provisions that are put before our agency are very strict," and prevent the department from releasing anything more than a name of the person receiving a tax credit and the amount of the credit taken, said department spokesman Trevor Johnson.

    "So members of the government, anybody outside of this agency, can't get any more information than that, typically," Johnson said.

    Carolina Journal sent queries to three top public information officers at SAS to confirm that the Goodnight and Sall listed in the Revenue Department report are the SAS co-founders. At press time, CJ had not received a response.

    The SAS letter opposes House Bill 332, which would freeze the mandate for utilities' renewable energy purchases at 6 percent. It also would free utilities from the mandate of offering purchase contracts to all renewable energy providers, instead lowering the requirement to only small-scale renewable operators.

    SAS, with 2014 revenues reported at $3.09 billion, is the latest large corporation to press lawmakers to maintain the REPS, which require utilities to purchase increasing percentages of renewable energy until renewables reach 12.5 percent of the fuel mix by 2021.

    Tech giants Google, Apple, and Facebook, all of which have data centers in North Carolina, jointly sent a letter to legislative leaders opposing H.B. 332. All have received major tax-funded incentives to locate their facilities in the state.

    In its letter, SAS mentioned the letter that Google, Apple, and Facebook sent to Berger and Moore.

    "We respectfully request that the General Assembly not alter the carefully developed clean energy policies that are the foundation for North Carolina's almost decade-long commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions," the SAS letter said.

    According to Revenue Department records, North Carolina has issued $224,508,181 in renewable energy tax credits since 2010. Duke Energy has received roughly $66 million in tax credits, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has received $29.5 million. Much of the remaining tax credits were collected by large national banks and insurance companies.