Advocacy in the Press
The following article was in the New York Times Magazine from August 12, and is now posted on CommonDreams.org:
Resolved: Public Corporations Shall Take Us Seriously
It documents how members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and other social investors travel to Dallas, strategize, and raise social issues at ExxonMobil’s annual shareholder meeting. The article is helpful in explaining how this process works, and the motivations for doing it.
While MMA does not invest in ExxonMobil for human rights and environmental reasons, we support the efforts of those who wish to change Exxon’s policies for the better. Mark and I collaborate with the people featured in the story on a variety of issues at other companies.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:41 am
Hey Chris - just found this blog through Google, trying to find a way to contact you. I’ve added it to my RSS reader, looking forward to keeping up with what you guys are thinking and doing. The Times article looks interesting, but apparently I can’t get to it without a paid subscription - oops.
Somewhat off-topic, I was wondering if you and Mark are aware of British Petroleum’s plans to dramatically increase the ammonia and industrial waste solids they dump into Lake Michigan from their Whiting (IN) refinery. Just thought I’d drop a note to you about it, because I remember that back when I was looking into Mennonite Retirement Trust fund options, BP was in the top five investments (maybe even was the top single investment) in one or more of the funds. Is there any kind of action that MMA could take on this? Sen Durbin and Rep Rahm Emanuel will be meeting with the BP CEO on Sep 4 - more info on that here: http://ga3.org/campaign/bp_petition?rk=j1swH661GO6yW
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Hi Carl,
Sorry about the link - it should be working now. I forgot that New York Times articles go into archive after a week, and then you have to pay for them.
We are aware of BP’s permit to increase their dumping into Lake Michigan. My understanding is that they are retooling the Whiting refinery in order to handle heavy, sour crude oil, which takes more energy to refine and causes more pollution (the light, sweet crude prized by refiners is becoming increasingly scarce)
Since BP is a large MMA holding, particularly in the Praxis International Fund, we pay careful attention to the company. Mark can speak to developments at BP with more authority than me, as he has followed the company for years and has spoken with BP America’s CEO. I also know that Mark attended a meeting with BP management about a month ago and the new Whiting permit was discussed. He can share his experience about that.
Thanks for posting - my email address is chris.meyer@mma-online.org and Mark’s is mark.regier@mma-online.org if you would like to contact us that way.
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Hey Chris - thanks for the email addresses. Sounds like BP has already backed down on the increased dumping, at least according to Durbin and Emanuel. Good timing.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Carl,
As Chris has already highlighted, we take our investment in companies like BP very seriously. We follow them closely and are often in regular contact with company executives on a range of topics. We’ve worked with the company on a number of issues (at times at THEIR request) such as the BTC Pipeline, global HIV/AIDS policies, and North American safety problems of recent years. See my new post above concerning the BP Whiting Refinery issue. Thanks!