NY comptroller: Cabot to reduce fracking risk by Associated Press, February 5, 2013
The trustee of New York’s $150.1 billion pension fund has reached an agreement with Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. to disclose what it’s doing to reduce risks of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says Tuesday that Cabot has agreed to publicly disclose its policy and procedures for eliminating or minimizing the use of toxic substances in fracking fluids. In turn, DiNapoli has withdrawn his shareholder proposal submitted for the company’s 2013 proxy statement to demand such disclosure.
DiNapoli says shareholders’ value is better protected when companies disclose the risks associated with their operations. New York’s pension fund has 184,350 shares of Pittsburgh-based Cabot worth $6.9 million. DiNapoli also has agreements with Hess Corp., Range Resources and SM Energy to disclose potential business and environmental risks of fracking. [Emphasis added]
Investors Push Back on Fracking by Sara Murphy, February 5, 2013, Motley Fool
An investor network representing $11 trillion of assets under management announced today that is has filed shareholder resolutions with nine leading oil and gas companies seeking greater transparency on how they manage the environmental risks of their fracking operations. Among the filers are New York City and New York state. The move signals a growing movement among investors to use their equity stakes to influence extractive companies’ environmental impact. This mirrors similar tightening in legislation, and some companies will be better equipped to respond to this shifting landscape than others. … The problem is, we really don’t know much about how companies are managing fracking’s environmental risks. They’re not really talking.
Investors in Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) are trying hard to change this situation. They’re pushing oil and gas companies to report on environmental risks and limit methane emissions from fracking operations. The investors’ concerns relate to companies’ water management, toxic chemical disclosure, greenhouse gas emissions, and other community impacts. The INCR wants the nine targeted companies to disclose critical information about how they manage and measure these risks.
The shareholders have filed resolutions with Cabot Oil & Gas, Chevron, ExxonMobil, EOG Resources, ONEOK, Pioneer Natural Resources, Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE ) ,Range Resources, and Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL ) , challenging these companies to quantifiably measure and reduce environmental and societal impacts. “Now is the time for companies to measure up – literally,” said Leslie Samuelrich, senior vice president of Green Century Capital Management, which filed with EOG Resources and Ultra Petroleum and coordinates a shareholder campaign on fracking with The Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN). “Transparency is the first step, but oil and gas companies must now implement quantifiable plans to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment.” [Emphasis added]