Setbacks for shareholder activists

Big oil company profits trumped governance reform at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s annual meeting. A proposal to offprint the president and CEO jobs garnered an anemic 39.5 percent of votes cast, edging down somewhat from last year contempt support from members of the John D. Rockefeller family, who supported shareholder activists in the belief that an mugwump chairman could help steer company thinking beyond fossil fuels -- an important sustainability issue that's gained impulse at energy companies and businesses in other industries in recent years.

The lack of support for this administration reform isn't truly surprising. When companies split the president/CEO title, it's normally in response to a financial performance job or faulty business scheme. Under the leading of president and CEO Rex Tillerson, Exxon posted a record $40.61 billion net income last year, so financial performance is very impressive. And while some Exxon shareholders fear that its continued emphasis on dodo fuels at what they deem to be the disbursal of development of option energy is shortsighted, the company maintains that society will continue to rely on oil and natural gas for decennary to come -- and that the company intends to be in a strong position to meet those needs.

Several other proposals at Exxon drew unimpressive support: one request Exxon to set goals for reduction emissions (30.9 percentage); another requesting the company issue a study on the impact of clime change on poor communities (10.4 percent); and another that would require the company to develop a renewable energy policy (27.4 percent).

Exxon's business scheme reflects an anticipated Congressional stall on a bill to cut emanation drastically by 2050. Achieving the bill's goal of a 66 percentage reduction would be very costly; it would finally be paid by consumers who are struggling now with $4 a gal gasoline. The massive bill includes creation of a composite cap-and-trade scheme to curb greenhouse gas emissions under which U.S. Companies could offset their emissions by purchasing permits related to green programs in other countries. According to The Wall Street Journal, New England Energy Finance, an industry consultant, reported that the United States could buy so many of these permits abroad that it would not have to reduce emissions domestically until at least 2030.

Although the votes will keep dissident shareholders at bay for a time, governance experts point out that Exxon doesn't have a green light to maintain the status quo indefinitely. Reuters reported that Rockefeller family representatives said that the vote "makes it clear that Exxon Mobil must respect the views of the shareholders and take account of the changing world outside the doors of its executive suite."