California sues Exxon Mobil over plastic recycling claims

California Atty. General Rob Bonta filed the first lawsuit directed against Exxon Mobil Corp. – one of the largest producers of petroleum-based polymers – for allegedly lying to the public about the recycling potential of plastics and creating an environmental blight that has cost the country billions of dollars to clean up.

Bonta is seeking to force the oil giant to “stop its deceptive practices.” They seek to secure abatement funds, disgorgement (a legal remedy that requires parties to give up profits or other benefits obtained illegally or unethically) and civil penalties “for the harm that plastic pollution has done to California communities and the environment.”

The lawsuit was filed Monday morning in San Francisco County Superior Court.

A separate lawsuit, filed by a consortium of environmental groups — including the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay and Baykeeper — was also announced Monday.

“For decades, Exxon Mobil has deceived the public into believing that plastic recycling can solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they know that is impossible,” Bonta said in a statement. “Exxon Mobil is lying to achieve record profits at the expense of our planet and possibly endangering our health.”

The suit comes almost two and a half years after Bonta launched an investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their alleged role in causing and exacerbating the global crisis in plastic waste pollution.

At that point, Bonta said he would call Exxon Mobil Corp. seeking information related to the company’s “historic and ongoing efforts” to reduce public perception of the harmful consequences of plastic.

Securing documents through a subpoena, Bonta said he has the evidence and documentation needed to sue the company on various legal grounds.

In a statement, Bonta said the lawsuit presented the “most comprehensive picture to date” of the oil giant’s “decade-long fraud.”

The two lawsuits allege that the oil company violated the state’s natural resources, water pollution, false advertising, unfair competition and nuisance laws.

Bonta asked for injunctive relief to protect the country’s natural resources from pollution and further damage, as well as to prevent the company “from making false or other misleading statements about plastic recycling and plastic operations.”

Fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, are the raw materials for most plastics. In recent decades, plastic waste has accumulated in waterways and oceans, disrupting marine life and threatening human health.

The announcement of the two lawsuits comes as state lawmakers seek to cut plastic pollution at its source, with the passage and implementation of SB54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producers’ Responsibility Act – which seeks to shift the responsibility and cost of plastic pollution from taxpayers. and consumers and to producers and packers.

It is also at the center of much research showing the harmful and ubiquitous nature of microplastics in the environment and in the human body.

Micro- and nanoplastics are produced when plastic products break down. Petroleum-based plastics are not fully biodegradable; they broke into smaller and smaller pieces, which are now found in the deepest trenches of our oceans, in the snow on top of the highest mountains, in air, water, food and bodies.

Environmentalists hailed the dual lawsuits as a needed correction in an industry that for decades has produced products that leach into the nation’s waterways and harm the human body.

“For 40 years, the Surfrider Foundation has fought to protect our oceans, waves, and beaches… Despite these tireless efforts, 85% of the items collected in California beach cleanups by 2023 will still be single-use plastics,” Jennifer said. Savage, the Surfrider Foundation’s senior plastic pollution initiative manager. “Now, for the health of the ocean and the people who depend on it, we are taking this fight to court to hold Exxon accountable for its contribution to the plastic pollution crisis.”

Oceana’s Christy Leavitt, director of the plastics campaign, said that “recycling is like trying to mop up water from an overflowing bathtub while the faucet is still running. We have to turn off the faucet and reduce plastic production one by one… If companies don’t reduce production, then the government must ensure.

On Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would close a loophole in the 2014 plastic bag ban that still allows some plastic bags to be sold at the checkout line.

Research shows that the two biggest contributors of microplastics in the environment are car tires and synthetic clothing. However, as the plastic industry expands and the number of plastic items used one by one, it also contributes to contamination and environmental pollution. About 151 million tons of single-use plastics were produced from fossil fuels in 2021. This number is predicted to increase to 19 million tons in 2027.