BP joins list of companies fleeing Alec

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/mar/23/alec-bp-british-petroleum-companies-conservative-lobbyist

Mar. 23, 2015
Amy Westervelt

British Petroleum is the latest company to pull its membership from the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), the oil company announced on Monday. The oil giant is now the second oil and gas company to leave the conservative nonprofit that acts as a conservative lobbying group.

BP’s departure follows a wave of exits by tech companies from Alec at the end of last year. Google, Yahoo, Facebook, eBay and Yelp all cut ties with the organization following criticism by environmental nonprofits for drafting model legislation that denies any human contribution to climate change.

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BP’s exit comes a few months after Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) announced that it would depart from Alec, and a year after ConocoPhillips, an American multinational energy corporation, did the same. All companies have stayed tight-lipped about precisely why they’ve chosen to leave the group, but a proxy statement for Oxy’s annual shareholder meeting, held in May 2014, sheds some light on the subject. In it, the Needmor Foundation, which holds 800 shares of Oxy stock, proposes that the company review and evaluate its relationships with various trade groups (pdf). In regards to leaving Alec, the foundation wrote:

Alec has been associated with contentious anti-immigration, voter identification and Stand Your Ground, legislation. More recently, Alec initiatives have opposed climate change policies and efforts to weaken state renewable energy standards with the Heartland Institute. Occidental Petroleum is a member of Alec and funds its work. We believe this partnership may bring significant reputational and business risk to the company.

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