Oil giant Exxon Mobil has filed a defamation lawsuit against California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, claiming Bonta falsely accused the company of deceiving the public about the potential for plastic recycling.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, amounts to a counterpunch against a suit Bonta filed against Exxon Mobil last September accusing the company of greatly exaggerating the extent to which plastics can be recycled by portraying them as universally recyclable.
Exxon claims that accusations by Bonta and environmental groups have damaged its reputation with customers.
“With apparently no appreciation for the irony of their claim, Mr. Bonta and his cohorts are now engaging in reverse greenwashing,” according to the complaint, which also names environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation. “While posing under the banner of environmentalism, they do damage to genuine recycling programs and to meaningful innovation,” the lawsuit says.
The legal battle underscores a widening rift between California and oil companies. Plastics are a product of the petroleum industry, created by processing chemicals found in hydrocarbons.
Bonta‘s suit against Exxon goes beyond issues of consumer deception to address plastic manufacturing itself. Plastic waste is increasingly recognized as a serious global pollution problem. The Bonta suit seeks financial penalties “for the harm inflicted by plastics pollution upon California’s communities and the environment.”
Bonta alleged the company “falsely promoted all plastic as recyclable” while the recycling rate of plastics in the U.S. is below 10%. Exxon has disputed those claims.
The battle against Big Oil has become a hallmark of the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom. He’s accused oil companies of price gouging, although state efforts to prove it have thus far born no fruit. Newsom coaxed the state Legislature in two special sessions to create a price gouging investigation unit and to require oil refineries to keep extra stocks of gasoline on hand to prevent price spikes when refineries shut down for maintenance.
The governor is seeking to keep gasoline prices down as the state increasingly squeezes its oil refineries with its electric vehicle mandate. In 2020, Newsom ruled that automakers increase sales of new zero-emission vehicles over time until 2035, when state policy will ban sale of new traditional gasoline and diesel fueled cars and light trucks.
At the same time, California is increasing financial penalties on the state’s oil refineries through its Low Carbon Fuel Standards program.
The Big Oil battle raises questions about future gasoline supply and prices at the pump if more oil companies abandon the state. In October, Phillips 66 announced plans to shut down its Los Angeles-area refinery, although it will retain its service stations here. The oil company said market conditions, not recent state policies, drove the decision.
