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ExxonMobil sued California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and a group of environmental activist groups on Monday, alleging they colluded in a smear campaign against the oil giant’s plastic recycling initiative.
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, could signal a new legal strategy for the fossil fuel industry against environmentalists and their government allies. He argues that Bonta defamed Exxon when he the company reported last September claiming it engaged in a decades-long “campaign of deception” around the recyclability of single-use plastics.
Bonta’s lawsuit accused Exxon of falsely promoting the idea that all plastics were recyclable. a report issued by the Center for Climate Integrity Last February indicated that only a small fraction of plastics can be meaningfully recycled in the sense of becoming completely new products.
ExxonMobil claimed that Bonta’s language in the lawsuit, as well as comments after the interviews, harmed its business.
“While marching under the banner of environmentalism, (the defendants) harm genuine recycling programs and meaningful innovation,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint also names four national and California environmental groups, the Sierra Club, San Francisco Baykeeper, Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation, which sued the company at the same time as Bonta’s office. He accuses Bonta’s office of recruiting the organizations to file the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is another salvo in the company’s recent aggressive approach to critics after it sued activist investor group Arjuna Capital in 2024 over its plans to submit a proposal on greenhouse gas emissions from Exxon. A Texas judge dismissed the suit in June after Arjuna agreed not to file the proposal.
“This is yet another attempt by ExxonMobil to divert attention from its own illegal deception,” a spokesman for Bonta’s office said in a statement to The Hill. “The Attorney General is proud to move forward with his lawsuit against ExxonMobil and looks forward to vigorously litigating this case in court.”
The Hill has reached out to the other defendants for comment.
