California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has filed a first-of-its kind lawsuit aimed at Exxon Mobil Corp. — one of the largest producers of petroleum-based polymers — for allegedly deceiving the public about the potential for plastic recycling and creating an environmental blight that has cost the state billions of dollars to clean.
In a suit filed Monday morning in San Francisco Superior Court, Bonta accused Exxon Mobil of falsely promoting plastics as universally recyclable when, in fact, the vast majority of these products cannot be reused. Decades of misleading marketing in newspaper advertisements, social media posts, television commercials and public statements caused consumers to buy and use more single-use plastic than they would have otherwise, Bonta alleged.
The lawsuit seeks to compel the oil giant to “end its deceptive practices” about plastics recycling, and asks the court to order Exxon Mobil to establish an abatement fund and pay financial penalties “for the harm inflicted by plastics pollution upon California’s communities and the environment.”
“For decades, Exxon Mobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew it wasn’t possible,” said Bonta in a statement. “Exxon Mobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health.”
Exxon Mobil had yet to respond to a request for comment from The Times on Monday.
Environmental groups lauded Bonta’s action and expressed optimism that this precedent-setting lawsuit could begin to stem the proliferation of plastics.
“This is the single most consequential lawsuit filed against the plastics industry for its persistent and continued lying about plastics recycling,” said Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator and president of Beyond Plastics, an advocacy organization.
“The plastics industry has known for decades that — unlike paper and glass and metal — plastics are not designed to be recycled and therefore do not achieve a high recycling rate. Yet, the industry made every effort to convince the public otherwise while profiting off the planetary crisis it created,” Enck said. “This lawsuit will set an invaluable precedent for others to follow.”
The suit comes almost 2½ years after Bonta launched an investigation into the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries for their alleged role in causing and exacerbating a global crisis in plastic waste pollution.
At the time, Bonta said he’d subpoenaed Exxon Mobil Corp. seeking information related to the company’s “historic and ongoing efforts” to minimize the public’s understanding of the harmful consequences of plastic.
Securing documents via subpoena, Bonta says they have the evidence and documentation required to sue the company on a variety of legal grounds.
In a statement, Bonta said the lawsuit shows the “fullest picture to date” of the oil giant’s “decades-long deception.”
The two lawsuits allege that the oil company violated state natural resources, water pollution, false advertisement, unfair competition and nuisance laws.
Bonta is seeking injunctive relief in order to protect the state’s natural resources from further pollution and destruction, as well as to stop the company “from making any further false or misleading statements about plastics recycling and its plastic operations.”
Fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, are the raw material of most plastics. In recent decades, the accumulation of plastic waste has overwhelmed waterways and oceans, sickening marine life and threatening human health.
A separate lawsuit, filed by a consortium of environmental groups — including the Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay and Baykeeper — was also announced Monday.
The announcement of the two lawsuits comes as state lawmakers seek to reduce plastic pollution at its source, with the passage and implementation of SB54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act — which seeks to turn the onus and cost of plastic pollution away from taxpayers and consumers and onto the producers and packagers.
It also comes amid a growing body of research showing the pernicious and ubiquitous nature of microplastics in the environment and within human bodies.
Micro- and nanoplastics are produced when plastic products break down. Petroleum-based plastics never fully decompose; they break down into smaller and smaller pieces, which have now been found in the deepest trenches of our oceans, in the snows atop the highest mountains, in our air, water, food and bodies.
Environmentalists hailed the dual lawsuits as much-needed corrections on an industry that has for decades produced products that have infiltrated the state’s waterways and contaminated human bodies.
“For 40 years, the Surfrider Foundation has been fighting to protect our ocean, waves, and beaches… Despite these tireless efforts, 85% of items collected in our California beach cleanups in 2023 were still single-use plastics,” said Jennifer Savage, the Surfrider Foundation’s senior plastic pollution initiative manager. “Now, for the health of our ocean and the people who depend on it, we’re taking this fight to court to hold Exxon accountable for their contribution to the plastic pollution crisis.”
Since 1985, more than 26 million pounds of garbage has been collected from California beaches and waterways — roughly 81% of it plastic. Many of these discarded items can be traced to Exxon Mobil’s polymer resins, plaintiffs say.
Over the weekend, thousands of people gathered at California beaches for the annual Coastal Cleanup Day, which is touted as the state’s largest volunteer event. In Los Angeles County, Heal the Bay hosted cleanups at dozens of sites, picking up more than 11,000 pounds of trash.
“We can’t go on producing plastic at this rate. We need a real systematic change, and that’s what we’re hoping for,” said Tracy Quinn, chief executive of Heal the Bay. “We can’t recycle our way out of this problem. We can’t continue to pick up trash from our beaches forever. We need to stop this as a source — and what we hope to achieve with this lawsuit.”
Christy Leavitt, plastics campaign director for the organization Oceana, said that “recycling is like trying to mop water from an overflowing bathtub while the faucet is still running. We need to turn off the faucet and reduce the production of single-use plastics … If companies won’t reduce their production, then governments must ensure they do.”
On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would close a loophole in a 2014 plastic bag ban that still allowed for some plastic bags to be sold at checkout lines.
Studies have shown 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 single-use plastic items grow, so, too does their contribution to environmental contamination and pollution. Around 151 million tons of single-use plastics were produced from fossil fuels in 2021. That number is expected to rise another 19 million tons by 2027.
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