Cali AG Sues Exxon
California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, has thrown a major legal punch at Exxon Mobil, filing a groundbreaking lawsuit accusing the oil giant of misleading the public for decades about the environmental impact of plastic production.
Bonta, a rising Democratic figure, claims that Exxon’s marketing of single-use plastics and its deceptive recycling claims have caused significant harm, and he's ready to make the company pay. This lawsuit isn’t just about money, though. Bonta wants the courts to force Exxon to stop what he calls “false and misleading” claims about how much of their plastic is actually recyclable.
Bonta is coming out swinging, saying this is the most comprehensive legal action taken against Exxon Mobil for its role in the plastics crisis. “Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of Exxon Mobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold Exxon Mobil fully accountable,” Bonta declared. He’s clearly not pulling any punches, with Exxon Mobil squarely in his crosshairs as the world’s largest producer of the chemical compounds used in plastics.
NEW: California AG Rob Bonta turns into a bumbling mess while getting called out for his hypocrisy in his lawsuit against Exxon Mobil.
Bonta called out Exxon for recycling material into jet fuel which prompted the hosts to ask him how he got to the studio.
Bonta claims Exxon is… pic.twitter.com/IrPLBY6Mpy
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 24, 2024
But Exxon isn’t taking these accusations lying down. The company fired back, pointing fingers right back at California. Their spokesperson, Lauren Kight, dismissed the lawsuit, saying the state has long known its recycling system was broken but failed to fix it. “They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others,” Kight shot back. Instead of suing, Exxon argues, California could have worked with them to address the problem, keeping plastics out of landfills. Not surprisingly, Bonta’s office doesn’t seem too interested in that narrative.
This case is part of a broader trend in California, where state officials are ramping up efforts to hold industries accountable for their role in climate and environmental harm. Just last year, Bonta filed another big lawsuit targeting Exxon and four other oil companies over climate change damages.
The new lawsuit claims Exxon has violated state laws related to false advertising, unfair competition, water pollution, and more. If Bonta gets his way, the court will put the brakes on Exxon’s alleged misinformation and force the company to help clean up the mess.
The backstory here is decades in the making. According to Bonta’s office, Exxon Mobil and other oil companies have been selling the idea of plastics recycling since the 1970s—even though they knew it wasn’t feasible on a large scale. Bonta claims that promoting recycling was a way for Exxon to fend off potential government restrictions on plastic production, and the strategy worked.
Laws that might have curbed plastic use were derailed, and meanwhile, plastic production exploded. Fast forward to today, and we’re producing a staggering 300 million tons of plastic each year, with only about 9 percent actually getting recycled.
And it doesn’t stop there. Bonta’s lawsuit points out that Exxon’s latest push to promote “advanced recycling” techniques—which use heat to break down plastic waste—aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. According to Bonta, very little of the plastic actually gets recycled, and it’s more of a public relations ploy than a real solution. He’s accusing Exxon of using these claims to keep consumers buying single-use plastics while sidestepping the environmental fallout.