Would you vote "For" or "Against" this shareholders proposal on Global Warming?

Question

Annual Share Holder Meeting & Voting for Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY): Real Issue:

#4 Scientific report on Global Warming: Mr. Carl Olson, owner of 100 shares has notified OXY that he intends to present following proposal:

“Resolution for a scientific report on Global Warming/Cooling
Now therefore be it resolved by the stockowners of OXY to recommend that the board publish annually to the stockowners a “Scientific Report on Global Warming/Coolin”, which would include the following and any other information that OXY staff deems relevant:

1. The global temperature measurement OXY uses in discussing “global warming”

2. The atmospheric gases OXY considers to be “greenhouse gases” with respect to “Global warming” or “Global cooling”.

3. The effect that OXY considers the sun’s radiation to have on “global warming” or “global cooling”.

4. The sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide that OXY uses in its study of “Global warming” or “Global Cooling”.

(Cont)

5. The “greenhouse effect” that OXY considers to occur on eh global temperature measurement from the concentration of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

If OXY has no formulation or measurement for any of the items #1-5 above, or any part of each of them, then it shall state so in the report.

Answer 1

You would vote "For" Mr. Olson's proposal if you agree that Occidental Petroleum Corp should file a scientific report with that information. If you voted "For" that proposal, you'd be saying that you agree that it is the company's responsibility to act prudently when it comes to the environment as their nature of business contributes to the global warming problem.

However, the company probably feels that they are already operate responsibly, and writing this report would be costly to the company, therefore decreasing shareholder value. Since the main objective of the company and its appointed board of directors is to maximize shareholder wealth, as a shareholder you might consider voting "Against" Mr. Olson's proposal. My guess is that on your proxy ballot, if it has director's recommendations, they have recommended that you vote "Against" the proposal.

I hope that helps you understand what your vote signifies!


Added later: If you were taking a survey, I would probably vote against it. Not sure, though. I'd have to read the proxy statement more thoroughly to see what exactly it entails.