ConocoPhillips – Environmental Impact of Oil Sands (2011)
WHEREAS ConocoPhillips has extensive interests in oil sands operations (11% of proved reserves as of 12/31/09) in the Canadian boreal forest region. Our company is the operating partner of the Surmont oil sands venture and is a partner in the FCCL Oil Sands Partnership, in addition to having interests in other properties. Oil sands extraction requires heavy water use, land disturbance, toxic waste storage, and emission of air pollutants. These environmental impacts, along with their implications for local populations and wildlife, can introduce legal, regulatory and reputational problems to oil sands companies. Industrial logging and oil sands have reduced the …
Tar Sands Shareholder Proposals Pick Up Steam in 2010
In a show of how seriously investors, environmentalists and advocates are looking at the environmental costs and financial uncertainties associated with tar sands, support has grown dramatically for shareholder resolutions filed at major oil companies. This movement parallels increased activity on the part of more than 50 nongovernmental organizations working to slow down the expansion of tar sands projects. Extracting oil from tar sands, also known as oil sands, is an energy-intensive and damaging process, whereby oil that is mixed with sand, clay, other mineral sediments and water is separated often using hot or warm water. The oil is either …
ConocoPhilips – Environmental Impacts of Oil Sands (2010)
WHEREAS ConocoPhillips has extensive interests in oil sands operations in the Canadian boreal forest region. Our company is the operating partner of the Surmont oil sands venture and is a partner in the FCCL Oil Sands Partnership, in addition to having interests in other properties. Oil sands extraction presents a unique set of challenges due to its resource intensive and environmentally damaging nature. Oil sands mining requires heavy water use, land disturbance, toxic waste storage, and emission of air pollutants. These environmental impacts, along with their implications for local populations and wildlife, can introduce legal, regulatory and reputational problems to …
Trillium Organizes Tour of 'Cancer Alley'
In early June 2009, Trillium’s Susan Baker led a group of 40 investors on a fact-finding tour of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” The investors, who were gathered in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, represented faith-based institutions and socially responsible investment firms collectively holding billions of dollars under management. They traveled 200 miles by bus to tour the heavily industrialized and highly polluted stretch west of New Orleans. Guided by prominent experts from local environmental justice, indigenous community, and coastal restoration groups, including the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, investors were provided with an in-depth …
ConocoPhillips Shareholders Show Strong Support for Tar Sands Proposal
BOSTON – May 14, 2009. ConocoPhillips shareholders demonstrated even stronger support this year than last for a shareholder proposal calling for the company to fully account for the environmental impact of its tar sands operations. Over thirty percent (30.54%) of shareholders voted in support, compare to last year’s vote of 27.5%. The “yes” vote represented approximately $12.8 billion in share value. Shareholders owning $7.2 billion in value abstained. The proposal, filed by Trillium Asset Management Corporation (“Trillium”), Green Century Capital Management (“Green Century”), First Affirmative Financial Network and Walden Asset Management called for an independent committee of the Board to …
ConocoPhillips – Environmental Impacts of Oil Sands (2009)
WHEREAS ConocoPhillips has extensive interests in oil sands operations in the Canadian boreal forest. ConocoPhillips holds a 9% interest in Syncrude; is the operating partner of the Surmont oil sands; and is a partner in the FCCL Oil Sands Partnership. Total production capacity for these projects is estimated at 950 MBD within the next few years. The boreal provides critical climate regulation for the earth as a whole, storing more than 186 billion tons of carbon — equivalent to 913 years’ worth of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. More than 30% of North America’s bird population rely on the boreal for …
2008 Advocacy Review
For our 2008 advocacy efforts, we’re pleased to report a fair amount of progress — never as much as we’d like (we’d like superhero powers), but enough to confirm that shareholder activism remains a potent tool for change. Climate change. Our shareholder resolution at ConocoPhillips requesting a report on the environmental and social impacts of tar sands drilling won almost 28% of the vote, an impressive vote in this arena. Our resolution at Bank of America addressing its financing of coal-fired power plants and mountaintop coal removal was deemed inadmissible by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but we eventually …
Investors Decry BP's Entry Into Tar Sands
INVESTORS DECRY BP’S ENTRY INTO TAR SANDS Statement to be submitted at BP annual meeting today in London Contacts: Shelley Alpern, Trillium Asset Management Corporation (617) 292-8026, x 248 Lauren Compere, Boston Common Asset Management (617) 720-5557 April 17, 2008 (Boston) – A group of American and British investors released a statement today expressing disappointment at BP’s (NYSE: BP) investment in the Canadian tar sands, calling the move a “disturbing step backwards.” A representative from the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility intends the statement at BP’s annual stockholder meeting, which is taking place today at ExCeL London in London …
Tar Sands Development Stickier Than Anticipated
In a rational global economy not entirely driven by short-term profit maximization, the collective body politic of all nations would have applied the precautionary principal to the threat of climate change twenty years ago. We’d now be celebrating the fruits of two decades of aggressive efficiency measures, phased down fossil fuel use, and the mass distribution of renewable energy technologies. Instead, we have the tar sands. Record oil prices and declining access to the oil and gas resources of nations such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Venezuela has led to a rush to develop Canada’s tar sands deposits. CIBC …
ConocoPhilips – Environmental Impacts of Oil Sands (2008)
WHEREAS ConocoPhillips has considerable interests in oil sands operations in the Canadian boreal forest that mine and upgrade bitumen. ConocoPhillips holds a 9% interest in Syncrude, a joint venture expected to produce 350,000 barrels/day by 2010, and is the operating partner of the Surmont oil sands joint venture project, with a 50% equity stake (potential production: 200,000 barrels per day). The boreal provides critical climate regulation and carbon storage for the earth as a whole. This ecosystem is the breeding ground for 30% of North American songbirds and 40% of our waterfowl. Industrial logging and oil sands have reduced it …
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