Angry Alaska Won’t Vote Exxon Stock

The public agency that manages Alaska’s $10-billion fund derived from oil wealth will send a message to Exxon Corp. at its annual meeting by withholding 650,600 shares of Exxon stock from voting.

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. sent a letter to Exxon Chairman Lawrence Rawl this week, informing him of the largely symbolic action to underscore Alaska’s concern over the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound.

“This incident has brought incredible devastation to regions of this state and will have long-lasting consequences,” wrote Oral E. Freeman, chairman of the Permanent Fund board.

Freeman urged Rawl “to take all necessary and appropriate action to ensure that the oil spill is dealt with fully and in a timely matter.”

The Permanent Fund is a state trust created in 1976 to ensure that Alaska residents benefit from the state’s oil wealth long after the oil is gone.

The fund’s investment in Exxon is the second largest of its stock portfolio and is worth more than $28.1 million. However, it represents only a small percentage of the total shares of Exxon’s outstanding stock.

Withholding the shares at Exxon’s annual meeting May 18 in Parsippany, N.J., will mean that the votes they represent cannot be used to establish a quorum or for any vote of the stockholders.

Exxon spokesman Dave Parish said Exxon officials had not seen Freeman’s letter and would have no comment.