London based oil giant British Petroleum (BP) Chairman Peter Sutherland announced last week at the company's general meeting that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is "not part of its current business plan."
Conservationists hailed the announcement as a victory for a campaign to persuade BP to stay out of sensitive and protected areas.
"Drilling in the Arctic does not make sense from an environmental standpoint and the company's announcement today shows that BP recognizes that it does not make good business sense either," said Athan Manuel, Arctic Campaign Director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "We hope that we can build on a productive annual meeting and develop a long term no-go zone policy for sensitive areas."
Manuel and the Right Reverend Mark MacDonald of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska presented a shareholder resolution at the annual general meeting aimed at pressuring BP to consider a "no-go zone policy."
The resolution, filed by a trans-Atlantic coalition of environmentalists, religious organizations, and socially responsible investors, directs BP to report on the risks associated with operating in sensitive and protected areas such as World Heritage Sites, IUCN categories, and national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges.
More than six percent of BP shareholders voted in favor of the resolution.
"For centuries, the Christian moral tradition and the Western legal tradition have consistently promoted aboriginal rights as fundamental elements of basic and minimal commitment to justice," said Reverend MacDonald.
"Though these traditions are accepted almost unanimously in theory, government, corporations and sadly, even religious institutions have far too consistently undermined or stolen capacity for aboriginal peoples to survive," MacDonald said.
The Special Resolution, drafted by U.S. PIRG in December 2003, was co-filed by a broad coalition of environmental, financial, and religious groups, along with more than 90 individual investors.
The vote sent a "strong message to BP that the best way for the company to go beyond petroleum is to stay out of protected areas like the Arctic Refuge," said Manuel. "Adopting a no-go zones policy will make BP the industry leader on environmental issues and corporate responsibility."
In the last five years, the PIRG Arctic Wilderness Campaign has targeted oil companies that have an interest in drilling in the Arctic Refuge.
ConocoPhillips shareholders will vote a similar resolution on May 5, 2004.
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