California attorney general sues ExxonMobil
SAN FRANCISCO (KYMA, KECY/NBC) - California Attorney General Rob Bonta is holding a press conference Monday.
In a press release obtained by NBC News, the press conference is to announce a lawsuit against ExxonMobil "for allegedly engaging in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis."
The press release says the lawsuit, filed in the San Francisco County Superior Court, seeks to compel ExxonMobil to "end its deceptive practices that threaten the environment and the public," while stating that "Attorney General Bonta also seeks to secure an abatement fund, disgorgement, and civil penalties for the harm inflicted by plastics pollution upon California’s communities and the environment."
"Plastics are everywhere, from the deepest parts of our oceans, the highest peaks on earth, and even in our bodies, causing irreversible damage—in ways known and unknown—to our environment and potentially our health.
For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible. ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health. Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold ExxonMobil fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis through its campaign of deception."
Rob Bonta, California Attorney General
"We applaud California Attorney General Bonta for taking bold action to hold industry accountable and debunk the plastics recycling narrative that holds us back from real solutions.
The world is drowning in plastics, and we can no longer ignore one of the biggest threats facing our oceans, climate, and health today. Recycling has been pushed by the plastics industry as the solution to combatting plastic pollution, but recycling alone is not enough to solve the plastics crisis. In fact, less than 6% of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled. 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 plastic.
We must work to stop plastic pollution at the source and stop producing unnecessary single-use plastics. Policy change, not recycling, will solve our current plastics crisis. If companies won't reduce their production, then governments must ensure they do."
Christy Leavitt, Oceana's plastics campaign director
To read the complaint, click here. To watch the livestream of the press conference, see attached video.
