Atmospheric methane dramatically increacing
From an Article by Michael Rubinkam, Washington Post, May 17, 2018
Associated Press — A church with a minuscule stake in Range Resources has won shareholder approval of a resolution to force Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas driller to produce a report on its effort to scale back methane emissions.
The Unitarian Universalist Association, which owns Range stock valued at about $2,000, sought to force the energy giant to produce a report that “reviews the company’s policies, actions and plans related to methane emissions management.”
Range’s board opposed the measure, saying the Fort Worth, Texas-based company already discloses that information to stockholders as well as to federal and state environmental regulators. A board statement that urged shareholders to reject the proposal archly noted that it was “submitted on behalf of a stockholder who holds 130 shares.”
Shareholders at the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday approved the activist church’s resolution by the slimmest of margins, giving it just over 50 percent of the vote. A similar measure offered by the church in 2014 was withdrawn after getting just 8 percent.
Environmentalists hailed shareholders’ change of heart.
“This vote provides further proof that the public is increasingly concerned about the impact of oil and gas pollution,” said Andrew Williams, director of legislative and regulatory affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund.
The Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association wants Range and other drillers to limit emissions from methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. It said Range had not provided “adequate disclosure” of its mitigation strategy. The resolution approved by shareholders demands that Range produce a report by September on its efforts to stop methane leaks.
Range said it’s not a significant emitter of methane and already takes steps to limit pollution.
The company said in a statement on Thursday that it “appreciates the perspective brought forward by the proposal creators, and looks forward to working together with them to further articulate the company’s approach to emissions management.”
Range pioneered drilling and fracking in the Marcellus Shale, an underground rock formation that holds the nation’s largest reservoir of natural gas. It has nearly 1,300 active shale wells in Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 gas-producing state. Range earned $333 million on $2.6 billion in revenue last year.
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Why many people don’t care about climate change | UU World Magazine, December 2017
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http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/114417-anadarko-range-shareholders-call-for-clarity-in-climate-disclosures
Anadarko, Range Shareholders Call for Clarity in Climate Disclosures
From Charlie Passut and Jamison Cocklin, NGI Shale Daily, May 17, 2018
More than half of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. shareholders voted in favor of a resolution calling for the company to publish an assessment on how its portfolio could be affected by climate change, and most of Range Resources Corp.’s stockholders in their annual meeting gained approval for more information about methane emissions.
As You Sow (AYS), a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group that drafted the Anadarko resolution, said 53% of respondents voted in favor of the resolution, out of a total of 413 million votes cast. The resolution calls on the company to assess what impacts to the portfolio are possible under various scenarios where global warming is limited to 2 degrees C (2 C) or below.
The 2 C goal, which was agreed upon at the United Nations convention on climate change in Paris in 2015, took effect voluntarily in 2016 at a follow-up summit in Marrakech, Morocco.
“This majority vote is a victory not only for shareholders, but for Anadarko itself,” said AYS President Danielle Fugere. “The speed of technological advancements in low carbon energy, as well as global governments’ increasing focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions require that Anadarko ready itself for a rapidly changing energy market. The company’s investors have stated plainly that they cannot weather this kind of risk without transparency.”
Anadarko’s onshore assets in the United States are concentrated in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin in Colorado and Permian Basin’s Delaware sub-basin in West Texas. It also is one of the biggest leaseholders in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and has an international portfolio that includes a proposed liquefied natural gas export project in Mozambique.
Meanwhile, shareholders of Appalachian heavyweight producer Range finally passed a proposal that would require the company to more openly share its methane emissions reduction efforts.
At Range’s annual meeting on Wednesday, stockholders narrowly approved the proposal by 50.25% that was put forward by the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The company would be required to conduct and release a report by September that details how it’s managing the emissions.
The report is to include details about methane mitigation measures, including monitoring and the company’s use of leak detection and repair technologies, among other things.
The board had urged shareholders to vote against UUA’s proposal, noting that it was similar to others put forward by different shareholders that failed in 2013 and 2014. The company said in its proxy statement it has been a pioneer in “implementing a variety of best-in-class practices and technologies to reduce and eliminate potential emissions, including methane.”
Range primarily operates in the Appalachian Basin and North Louisiana, where it has assets in the Cotton Valley Sands Terryville Complex.