ConocoPhillips Drops Out of Arctic Power

ConocoPhillips, the largest oil company in Alaska, has dropped out of Arctic Power, the single-issue lobbying group that promotes opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling. The decision by the Houston-based oil giant means that the two largest operators on Alaska s North Slope – BP and ConocoPhillips – are no longer members of the Arctic drilling lobby group.

“We commend ConocoPhillips for listening to their shareholders and the American people and dropping out of Arctic Power,” said Athan Manuel, director of U.S. PIRG s Arctic Wilderness Campaign. “It appears that ConocoPhillips and BP are more enlightened than the Bush Administration when it comes to drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Hopefully Congress will get the message and defeat attempts to allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge this year.”

In response to ConocoPhillip’s decision, Green Century Capital Management decided to withdraw a shareholder resolution filed with the company regarding drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

“As ConocoPhillips shareholders, we applaud our company s decision to withdraw from Arctic Power,” said Green Century s Michael Leone. “ConocoPhillips clearly recognized that drilling in the Refuge would be risky business, and that participating in Arctic Power s pro-drilling efforts was not ultimately in the company s best interests.”

Over the last two years, ConocoPhillips shareholders and a coalition of environmental organizations have pushed the company to address the risks associated from drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. An Arctic Refuge shareholder resolution filed by Green Century received more than 9 percent of the shareholder vote in May 2004. Green Century refiled the Arctic Refuge resolution in December 2004, but offered to withdraw the resolution if the company dropped out of Arctic Power.

Dropping out of Arctic Power demonstrates to the socially responsible investment and conservation community that ConocoPhillips is no longer actively advocating drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

BP dropped out of Arctic Power in November 2002, after a similar campaign by the PIRG Arctic Wilderness Campaign, the World Wildlife Fund, and Green Century.

Since 1998, the PIRG Arctic Wilderness Campaign and its partners have targeted the four oil companies that have expressed interest in drilling in the Arctic Refuge. The campaign has filed 15 shareholder resolutions and generated more than 65,000 e-mails, phone calls, and letters to BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and ChevronTexaco.

Resolutions have also been filed this year at ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil that ask each company to report on the risks of operating in sensitive areas such as the Arctic Refuge. These resolutions will be voted on at each company s 2005 annual meeting.

ConocoPhillips decision comes at the start of the 109th Congress, which will likely debate the fate of the Arctic Refuge in February or March 2005.

“We hope that ConocoPhillips decision to drop out of Arctic Power will demonstrate to members of Congress that even the oil companies aren’t interested in drilling in the Arctic Refuge,” concluded PIRG’s Manuel. BP and ConocoPhillips recognize that drilling in the Arctic Refuge doesn’t make sense, and it looks like drilling there is not a priority for either company.


For more on the campaign, visit www.savethearctic.com