VANCOUVER—In an upset for a major publicly-traded corporation, two environmental resolutions at Kinder Morgan Inc.’s annual general meetings passed with more than 50 per cent of shareholder votes Wednesday, against the Texas firm’s advice.

Proponents of investor activism declared the Houston AGM results a victory for “democratization” inside a company that’s more used to protests from environmental and Indigenous opponents outside its doors.

One resolution, tabled by New York State’s $270-billion pension fund, demanded improvements in the Texas energy giant’s environmental reporting.

“This is a resounding victory for shareholders and others concerned about the company’s lack of reporting on environmental, social and corporate governance issues,” said Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, in a statement, urging the company to be “accountable” about “risks in its operations” such as controversy over its $7.4-billion Trans Mountain pipeline through B.C.

The second motion, from a Boston investment firm, asked how the company was prepared for 2C of global warming — noting its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion “is of concern due to strong community and First Nations opposition, particularly in B.C.” combined with low oil prices are “raising questions about the project’s long-term viability.”

A Kinder Morgan Inc. spokesperson confirmed the two resolutions from the floor passed with the required majority vote, in which larger stockholders got more sway.

“As you are probably aware, these proposals are non-binding,” said an emailed statement attributed to Rich Kinder, the firm’s executive chair. “However, the board will carefully consider the proposals and the information contained in the supporting statements in determining what actions to take with respect to them.”

Shareholder resolutions rarely gain more than a fraction of support, and Peter Chapman of the Vancouver-based Shareholder Association for Research and Education said even a 10, 20 or 30 per cent result can serve as a “wake-up call” to management about dissatisfied stockholders who ultimately call the shots.

“It’s very encouraging,” said Emma Pullman campaign manager with the advocacy organization SumOfUs, in a phone interview. “This is one way to democratize these institutions.

“This is about democratizing people’s understanding that everybody — you and me — have at some point contributed to the Canada Pension Plan … we have a bank accounts, maybe we have an RRSP or mutual funds. We’re all investors.”

The resolutions gained the backing of three of the world’s largest institutional investors holding a combined $450 million in Kinder Morgan stock; the $457-billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (the largest U.S. public pension fund), Norway’s $1.3-trillion Government Pension Fund Global, and the $270-billion New York State Common Retirement Fund.

Additionally, Pullman said her organization emailed its large membership list seeking Kinder Morgan shareholders to offer their proxy votes, allowing non-stockholders to attend Wednesdays meetings on their behalf.

“We heard back from a few dozen members, which was really surprising to me,” she said, adding she then asked for members to email their investment managers asking them to vote for the environmental resolutions. “We got contacted a few weeks ago by one of the largest pension funds in the U.S. asking us how to vote on a couple of these things because they had received messages from people writing to their fund managers.”

Chapman said in a phone interview that large institutional funds such as New York and California are considered “very active” in the companies they invest in.

“They see using their investor voice as an important way to protect the assets of their plans,” he said. “There are more than 1,000 shareholder proposals filed in the U.S. every year, only about 500 to 600 ever make it to the ballot … But the level of support generally for shareholder proposals is growing across North America.”

Wednesday’s two majority votes far surpassed similar resolutions at Kinder Morgan’s AGM last year, which topped 34.1 per cent of shares.

It’s unknown whether the two votes, demanding more transparency to shareholders about its environmental performance and risks, could affect its Trans Mountain expansion plans in B.C.

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The 1,100-kilometre project — which will nearly triple the flow of diluted bitumen to the West Coast from Alberta’s oilsands, and increase tanker traffic sevenfold — was approved by Ottawa and Victoria, and started construction last fall.

But early last month, the company announced it was ending all “non-essential spending” on the pipeline, saying it would abandon the project if B.C. didn’t call off plans to impose new environmental regulations by May 31; the B.C. government asked the courts to rule on whether it has the authority to do so.

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