Editor’s note: This commentary is by Julie Macuga, who is a student at the University of Vermont studying environmental studies who grew up in Williston and attended school in Hinesburg.
[L]ast Tuesday my alarm woke me at 2:35 a.m. and I prepared for a day of corporate espionage. At 4:50 a.m., I was on a Greyhound to Montreal. On an average day, I am a sloppy mess of a college student, but that morning, I put on a dress, make-up and shoes I could barely walk in. I realized I was in disguise. I was preparing to speak at an annual meeting of shareholders, a strange prospect for someone who is 25. It all came about thanks to a beautiful little park in Hinesburg.
Geprags Park is situated on a wetland where golden-winged warblers nest, a species that lives nowhere in New England but Vermont. According to Cornell University, this little bird has had one of the steepest population drops of any songbird in the last 45 years. It is in trouble. The Hinesburg park is also the site of the last 2,000 feet of construction for the Vermont Gas pipeline, which would transport fracked natural gas from Alberta through Chittenden, Addison and Franklin counties. For four years Vermonters have been fighting this pipeline. I have been involved since October, when I climbed into a muddy pipeline pit with other protesters to block construction.
A UVM course I’m in challenged environmental students to research a topic we are passionate about, and then give a short statement to a public commission. Vermonters trying to stop this pipeline have been kept out of public meetings, so I had to aim higher. I had heard of shareholder activism so I began researching the Canadian company that owns the pipeline. After 13 days grappling with an online brokerage firm, I had my ticket to the annual meeting of shareholders for Valener, an investment firm that owns 29 percent of Gaz Metro, which in turn owns Vermont Gas. I now own two shares valued at about $16 apiece.
His story was republished in five Canadian newspapers; finally, the voice of the people who were not heard in Vermont, the voice of the warblers who cannot speak on their own behalf, was heard.
Tuesday came, and at 7:30 a.m. I found myself in Quebec at a McDonald’s a block from Gaz Metro headquarters. I poured over the research dossier I had spent weeks putting together. At exactly 9:07 a.m., nearly an hour early, I walked to the meeting. I was the youngest person there, and I was alone. A woman named Sophie introduced herself and gently took my hand. She asked if it was my first shareholder meeting. She offered me fruit, coffee and pleasantries. I soon discovered that Sophie Brochu is the CEO and president of Gaz Metro.
I took a seat in the second row, hoping to keep a low profile. But then one by one, the people sitting next to me stood up as everyone applauded. I had unwittingly sat next to all candidates for director. This was terrifying, but not as worrisome as my next realization: the entire meeting was in French. I knew enough to understand “question and answer” and gave my prepared statement in English. I told them who I was, that I had to pay just to be heard, that ecosystems were being damaged, and that if nothing else swayed them, the cost overruns of the pipeline were glaring; the initial projected cost was $85 million, but that has skyrocketed to $165 million. In front of about 50 investors, I cited information from their own financial reports. I reminded them that they’ve tried to cover their negligence by paying fines, totaling $288,000 so far. I had to learn to speak the language of money.
Sophie the CEO gave a polite, green-washed response. Dozens of pairs of eyes followed me as I took my seat with the potential directors.
I was on my way out when a business reporter interviewed me. I told him we would continue to fight this pipeline regardless of the obstacles. Because of that interview, his story opened with the environmental concerns. His story was republished in five Canadian newspapers; finally, the voice of the people who were not heard in Vermont, the voice of the warblers who cannot speak on their own behalf, was heard. Sixteen hours and another Greyhound ride later I was back in Burlington, assimilating to life as my student-self. I got an “A” on my research and Sophie even invited me back next year. But the fact remains that pipeline construction is scheduled to continue. I am holding my breath for the Supreme Court decision. I fear for the residents of Vermont, both human and non-human, so I will persist until corporations like Valener actually listen.
