Oil executive speaks on the environment

A top official with Sun Company, the 12th largest oil company in the United States, spoke in Vance Hall yesterday about the delicate relationship between business and the environment. Patrick Coggins, a senior vice president with Sun Company, related how his company became the only Fortune 500 firm to adopt a series of principles supported by environmental groups. According to Coggins, CERES principles, established by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, are a set of environmental guidelines for corporations to follow. CERES consists of various environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Audobon Society as well as some social investment groups, Coggins said. He added that CERES initiated their principles as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska in 1989. Coggins spent much of his speech focusing on the negotiations between Sun and CERES adding that the company was reluctant at first to endorse principles for a variety of reasons. According to Coggins, the wording of the CERES principles was very vague and Sun Company already had its own internal set of environmental rules and regulations which it followed. After a year of meetings with CERES members, however, Coggins said that his company and members of CERES developed trust for each other and realized that their goals were similar. "Their goal and our goal did not seem so far apart," Coggins said. The Sun Company decided that by signing the CERES principles they would be placing themselves at the forefront of business' role in protecting the environment, Coggins said. He said the move also established credibility with environmental groups. Coggins said he did not know why other Fortune 500 companies have not decided to sign the CERES principles. He speculated, however, that firms might not be willing to present annual reports about the company's role in the environment. According to Bob Banks, a vice president of Sun Company also present at the discussion, Sun Company must file a report about its business' environmental record each year with CERES. This report and subsequent reports would not be audited by CERES but would be released to the public, Banks said. The Sun Company's first report will be completed in the late summer or early fall of this year, he said. Several students said they were pleased to see an oil company express interest in protecting the environment, but added that they are skeptical. "My basic impression was that companies say they're trying to make advances in the environment," said College junior Steve Birndorf. "However, it seems that there is more policy but less action." "If you put any oil company in this room you would have gotten the same response," Law student Roderick Chin said. "But this is not to take anything away from what Sun has done with CERES." The discussion was sponsored by The Social Responsibility in Business Club.