Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
WASHINGTON
- May 9 - Nearly 27 percent of ConocoPhillips shareholders today voted
in favor of a resolution asking the company to recognize—and eventually
stay out of—sensitive areas within the National Petroleum Reserve
Alaska, particularly areas near Teshekpuk Lake. The resolution, filed
by Green Century Capital Management as part of the U.S. PIRG Education
Fund's Arctic Wilderness Campaign, followed last year’s first-ever
shareholder resolution regarding Alaska's western Arctic. The 26.7
percent vote in favor of the resolution represents the highest vote
ever given by shareholders on a question of wilderness preservation.
"The
shareholders are sending an unmistakable message to ConocoPhillips
about the importance of Teshekpuk Lake and about the company's broader
environmental policies," said Zack Brown, of the U.S. PIRG Education
Fund's Arctic Wilderness Campaign. "More and more Americans—and
shareholders—are beginning to realize how important it is to protect
these unique areas."
Teshekpuk Lake provides critical
migratory bird habitat, and is central to the lives of local Native
populations who use the area for subsistence fishing and hunting. The
resolution calls on ConocoPhillips to consider the potential
environmental damage that would result from drilling for oil and gas in
the western Arctic, especially the northeast planning area adjacent to
Teshekpuk Lake. It goes on to ask the company to consider not drilling
in that region. The Teshekpuk Lake region, an area that encompasses the
most important and sensitive wetland complexes in the circumpolar
Arctic, supports the highest density of nesting waterfowl and
shorebirds on Alaska's North Slope. The fight over the fate of Alaska's
western Arctic is featured in this month's National Geographic.
"This
is a landmark day for Teshekpuk Lake and for all threatened ecosystems
around the world," said Andrew Shalit of Green Century Capital
Management. "Two years in a row, more than a quarter of the
shareholders of an oil company have said, 'Sometimes you shouldn't
drill. You have to consider the environmental cost.' We hope
ConocoPhillips and other oil companies will take that message to heart
and develop policies to protect the world's most sensitive ecosystems."
The 26.7 percent vote is the highest ever received by a
shareholder resolution on the subject of wilderness preservation. This
vote guarantees that the preservation of Teshekpuk Lake will stay on
the agenda for ConocoPhillips' management in the coming year.
* * *
U.S.
PIRG is the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups. PIRGs
are nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest advocacy organizations
active across the country.
Green Century Capital Management
is an investment advisory firm focused on environmentally responsible
investing. Founded by a partnership of non-profit environmental
advocacy organizations in 1991, Green Century’s mission is to provide
people who care about a clean, healthy planet the opportunity to use
the clout of their investment dollars to encourage environmentally
responsible corporate behavior. Green Century believes that shareholder
advocacy is a critical component of responsible investing and actively
advocates for greater corporate environmental accountability.
