Greenpeace, O’Connor try to Push Norway from Oilsands

Shawn Bell, May 26, 2009, Slave River Journal, Fort Smith--A Greenpeace-sponsored delegation is claiming success in its push to convince the Norwegian government-funded oil company, StatoilHydro, to get out of Alberta’s oilsands, despite failing to win a shareholders’ vote on May 19.

The delegation, including Dr. John O’Connor, former Fort Chipewyan physician, and Melina Laboucan-Massimo, from the Lubicon Cree nation in Alberta, spent three weeks in Norway meeting with stakeholders and government officials to spread concerns about environmental and health effects of oilsands production. Greenpeace capped the campaign by using its four shares in StatoilHydro to put forward a motion that the company withdraw its investments in the oilsands.

The motion was not carried, although it received 3.6 million votes. Another 44 million votes abstained. “The campaign push went above and beyond its objectives of raising the issue of Statoil’s involvement in the tar sands in the Nordic region,” said Martin Norman, Greenpeace Nordic climate and energy campaigner in a press release. “In addition, we’ve added the tar sands issue to the agenda of a number of key institutional shareholders and the Norwegian Government.”

StatoilHydro is a publicly traded company with over three billion shares, 67 per cent of which are owned by the Norwegian government. On May 18 the Norwegian opposition Christian Democrats forced an emergency vote in parliament, trying to prevent the government from voting against Greenpeace’s motion. The government defeated the opposition by six votes in the 169 seat parliament.

O’Connor joined Greenpeace’s delegation to present the health concerns of Fort Chipewyan to Scandinavian people. He spent 10 days in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, meeting with government officials, investors and members of the public.
“I (travelled to Scandinavia) because I am a family physician,” O’Connor said. “Despite efforts by the Canadian and Albertan governments to shut me up, I must continue to advocate for the health of my patients living downstream. I am particularly struck by the lack of knowledge and high level of interest in Scandinavia about human health problems linked with tar sand development.”

Greenpeace claims that a diverse range of groups across Norway are expressing opposition to the government’s continued involvement in the oilsands. Prominent StatoilHydro shareholders Folksam, a Swedish insurance company and KPA, a Swedish pension fund, voted with Greenpeace to pull StatoilHydro out of the oilsands. Public interest groups and environmental organizations in Norway have also been pressuring the government and the company.

The Swedish Church wrote a letter to StatoilHydro’s management on the eve of the vote, expressing its concerns with oilsands investment. “In the light of the need to reorganize the society to be less dependent on fossil fuel energy, and concentrate the effort on developing fossil-free energy sources, the Swedish Church considers it a big step backwards to invest in tar sands. Even StatoilHydro’s reputation as a responsible company moving in a sustainable direction is at risk.”
Despite the opposition, StatoilHydro has said it will continue investing in the oilsands.