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BP Amoco shareholders holding more than 150,000 shares force Northstar on to meeting agenda Greenpeace says shareholders will now be able to vote on whether a rig and sub-sea pipeline project in the Arctic Ocean should go ahead by The Associated Press
Shareholders have forced a vote on BP Amoco’s Arctic oil development plans, which environmentalists claim could threaten wildlife.
On Jan. 26, 100 British and American shareholders with more than 150,000 shares forced the company’s Beaufort Sea plans on to the annual general meeting agenda by submitting a formal resolution opposing BP’s Northstar oil pipeline project.
Will vote on April 13
The meeting is scheduled to take place in London April 13.
The move by the shareholders came as Greenpeace staged a demonstration outside BP Amoco headquarters in London with 10 members wearing polar bear costumes.
The environmental group said investors in the company would now have the chance to vote on whether a rig and sub-sea pipeline project in the Arctic Ocean should go ahead.
The Northstar field’s 20-mile pipeline would be the first subsea oil pipeline in Alaska’s Arctic.
But a spokesman for BP Amoco said the company intends to go ahead with the project.
“Over 30 years of working in the Arctic, we believe, will allow us to minimize any impacts,” said the spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. “We aim to continue with our activities, without accident, injury or damage to the environment.”
Solar developments asked The resolution also asks BP Amoco to invest the capital freed up from Arctic projects in expanded solar manufacturing capacity. BP has a solar subsidiary, Solarex.
The 100 shareholders were gathered together by Greenpeace, the U.S. investor Trillium Management Corp. and the U.S. Public Interest Group.
“As U.S. investors we support BP Amoco’s aim to play a leading role in supplying the world’s energy needs without damaging the environment,” said Simon Billenness, senior analyst with Trillium. “Unfortunately we have yet to see any sign of BP Amoco actually acting on this green vision.”
“With this resolution, shareholders in the U.S., and for the first time in Europe, have a chance to put policy into practice,” he said. “They can choose between funding dirty Arctic oil or clean and profitable solar power.”
Corps of Engineers has permitted project The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for the project last year and BP expects to have the field producing by late 2001.
Joseph Westphal, assistant Secretary of the Army for civil works, has said that BP’s permits would include dozens of stipulations to ensure environmental protection. Those would require the company to take steps to protect polar bear dens and bowhead whales.
It would also have to install a sophisticated leak detection system.
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