Two new lawsuits take on ExxonMobil's "deluge of plastic pollution"
And: Governor Newsom has signed three important polluter accountability bills into law!
This week, not one but TWO lawsuits were announced taking on ExxonMobil for its part in driving a “deluge of plastic pollution.”
From Inside Climate News, here’s info on the one filed on Monday by the Golden State’s Attorney General:
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil on Monday, accusing the oil and gas giant of knowingly contributing to “one of the most devastating global environmental crises of our time” while misleading the public about recycling as a solution.
The much-anticipated lawsuit is the first in which a state has gone after a big plastics manufacturer for environmental harm. It claims ExxonMobil is substantially responsible for “the deluge of plastic pollution that has harmed and continues to harm California’s environment, wildlife, natural resources, and people.”
The company “deceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis,” and Exxon’s new claims around “advanced” or “chemical” recycling are more of the same, according to the lawsuit. It cites investigative reporting from Inside Climate News and a raft of other sources, including internal company documents.
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Bonta said he’s seeking billions of dollars from Exxon to fund the abatement of a host of harms from plastic pollution in California.
Inside Climate News has been rigorously reporting on Big Oil’s plastic pollution for years now, and its report on the lawsuit is worth reading in full.
Read the rest at Inside Climate News
But that’s not all!
Also announced Monday, a coalition of non-profit environmental organizations (including Heal the Bay, the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club and San Francisco Baykeeper) is suing ExxonMobil too.
Here’s some excerpts from the announcement release from the LA-based Heal the Bay explaining why this is such a big deal:
The coalition complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges violations of California’s nuisance law and unfair competition law. In the suit, the plaintiffs argue there must be corporate accountability for a decades-long campaign to bury the truth about the known environmental, economic and human health impacts caused by plastics.
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What are the environmental harms created by ExxonMobil?
As alleged in the complaint, ExxonMobil-produced polymer resins are responsible for over 6 million metric tons of plastic waste annually — equivalent to the weight of 300,000 garbage trucks. Polymers are used to produce so-called “nurdles.” These BB-sized plastic pellets are the building blocks of such wasteful and harmful single-use items as plastic bags, water bottles and snack packaging. This debris winds up contaminating our environment and our bodies, at every stage of its product lifecycle. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish, according to some studies.
Why can’t we just do a better job of recycling single-use plastics?
Even with recycling programs in place for decades, less than 5% of domestic plastic is recycled into another plastic product, despite being labeled as “recyclable.” The vast majority of plastics end up littering our public places, winding up in overtaxed landfills, or floating in garbage vortexes in our oceans.
What are the ties between single-use plastics and the worsening climate crisis?
Given falling demand for gasoline as electric cars proliferate, plastics will be the greatest growth market for Big Oil in the next decade.
Plastic production and disposal are also a significant contributor to ever-worsening climate change, responsible for roughly 3% of all carbon emissions worldwide. The doubling of plastics production in the next two decades will contribute to the wildfires, famine and heat stroke that jeopardize the lives of millions.
How has plastic harmed our bodies?
Plastic pollution never biodegrades. Instead, plastic pollution breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces — sometimes referred to as microplastics. Avoiding microplastics in our daily lives is virtually impossible. It is in our drinking water, it is in the food we eat, and it is even in the air we breathe.
Over the course of a lifetime, the average person will unknowingly consume more than 40 pounds of plastic. Microplastics have been found in human blood, heart tissue, placentas, and even breast milk.
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FIND OUT MORE
Back in April, we published a round-up of plastic-related links if you’d like to know more about the harms caused by plastic (and why recycling it is not a realistic solution):
HOLDING POLLUTERS ACCOUNTABLE
On Tuesday, we called on Gavin Newsom to sign into law the key climate bills that had been passed by the state legislature during this legislative session.
Yesterday, at a signing ceremony down in LA, he signed three of them. Together, they bolster attempts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the damaging they’re causing California’s communities.
From the announcement released by the adminstration, here’s an excerpted run-down of what these new laws will achieve:
Empowering local communities to restrict oil and gas operations
AB 3233 by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) gives cities and counties greater authority to impose restrictions on oil and gas operations, including by limiting or prohibiting new oil and gas developments in their jurisdictions. By providing local jurisdictions with the power to make these decisions, California is taking a major step toward protecting vulnerable communities from the health impacts of industrial operations. The bill overrides recent court decisions that blocked ordinances limiting oil drilling adopted by the voters of Monterey County and the Los Angeles City Council.
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Addressing the dangers of idle wells in communities
AB 1866 by Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) addresses the growing problem of idle oil and gas wells across the state. These wells, which are no longer in active use but have not been properly decommissioned, pose a significant risk to both the environment and nearby communities. Under this new law, fees on idle wells are increased and stricter regulations will be enforced to ensure that oil companies are held responsible for maintaining and safely plugging idle wells, preventing leaks and contamination.
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Shutting down more oil wells in the Inglewood Oil Field
AB 2716 by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) prohibits the operation of low-oil production oil and gas wells located in an oil field within the Baldwin Hills Conservancy (Inglewood Oil Field) and imposes a $10,000 per month penalty on these wells until they are permanently plugged and abandoned. Penalty funds will go to projects like park creation to benefit the community.
To all the folks (including Climate Action California’s volunteers and allies) who campaigned so hard in support of these bills, a big well done: your efforts have paid off!