California
California sues ExxonMobil, alleging a 'campaign of deception' about plastics recycling
The Summary
- California’s attorney general is suing ExxonMobil, alleging the company misled consumers into believing that recycling was a viable solution for plastic waste.
- The suit accuses the company of waging a decadeslong “campaign of deception.”
- The lawsuit represents a new avenue in the legal fight to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for pollution and its consequences.
California’s attorney general sued ExxonMobil on Monday, alleging that the company had waged a “campaign of deception” for decades to mislead consumers and convince them that recycling was a viable solution for plastic waste.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of California in San Francisco, says ExxonMobil promoted recycling as a “cure-all for plastic waste,” even though the company knew that plastic would be difficult to eradicate and that certain methods of recycling could not process much of the waste produced.
It further alleges that ExxonMobil violated state regulations over water pollution and misleading marketing, among others.
“ExxonMobil promoted and vastly increased its production of single-use plastic while doling out false promises that its plastics are sustainable and recyclable and false promises that recycling would take care of ensuing plastic waste,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference.
He added: “The company has propped up sham solutions, manipulated the public and lied to consumers. … It’s time ExxonMobil is held accountable.”
ExxonMobil said in a statement responding to the lawsuit that “advanced recycling” is effective and that the company has kept more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste out of landfills using the method. The term refers to chemical recycling: a process that breaks plastic down to its basic chemical components for potential reuse.
“For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem,” ExxonMobil said.
The lawsuit represents a new avenue in the legal fight to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for pollution and their aggressive marketing practices. In other lawsuits, state attorneys general and environmental nonprofits have sued oil and gas giants over carbon pollution and its role in climate change and extreme weather disasters.
The new suit, which the attorney general’s office is billing as the first of its kind, will put the lifecycle of plastics and the potential harms of microplastics at center stage.
The state is requesting a jury trial and seeking to make ExxonMobil hand over some of its profits along with other civil penalties. Bonta said that he hopes to create an abatement fund to clean up pollution.
Environmental groups cheered the announcement.
“This is the big one. I hope this is going to open the floodgates,” said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, a nationwide project seeking to end plastic pollution.
Enck said that previous lawsuits have targeted individual plastic products or companies that sell them, but “this is the first to go upstream and make an effort to hold the production companies accountable.”
She added that she is skeptical of claims about the benefits of chemical recycling because the process often turns plastic into transportation fuel.
The lawsuit says ExxonMobil is the world’s largest producer of polymers used to make single-use plastics, which are derived from fossil fuels.
It alleges that ExxonMobil and its predecessor companies, Exxon and Mobil, for decades promoted single-use plastics through industry groups, advertising campaigns and other marketing initiatives, at one point even using Boy Scouts to sell plastic kitchen and trash bags as a fundraiser.
The industry groups encouraged Americans to pursue a “throw-away lifestyle” and downplayed public concerns about plastics’ ecological risks, the lawsuit says. In 1973, industry leaders called those concerned about plastic waste “enemies,” according to internal communications from the Society of the Plastics Industry (now known as the Plastics Industry Association), which are cited in the lawsuit.
When public concerns grew, ExxonMobil and its predecessors pushed mechanical recycling as a solution, despite internal industry warnings that it was not a permanent or feasible fix. One example cited in the suit: Exxon, Mobil and other petrochemical groups formed the Council for Solid Waste Solutions in 1988, which took out a 12-page advertisement in Time magazine urging recycling.
In the U.S., the plastic recycling rate has never exceeded 9%, the lawsuit says.
It also calls microplastic pollution a “crisis.”
Scientists have found microplastics in fresh snowfall in Antarctica, near the summit of Everest and in the Marianas Trench — evidence of how ubiquitous this type of pollution has become.
Microplastics can have harmful effects on both the environment and human health, some scientists say. Early studies suggest they could cause inflammatory responses and cell damage in the human body.
A study published earlier this year showed that people who have microplastics and nanoplastics in the plaque lining a major blood vessel in the neck may have a higher risk of heart attack, stroke or death.
Still, more research is needed to understand the risks microplastics may pose to human health.
Leehi Yona, an assistant professor of environmental and climate law at Cornell University, said the lawsuit opens a second front in the fight to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.
“We’ve seen quite a few lawsuits that have been based on the evidence around what these companies knew about climate change and how they deceived the public,” Yona said. (California is one of many states and localities that have sued the companies over their contributions to climate change.)
But the new lawsuit expands that approach to claims about plastics, she said.
“In my mind, these lawsuits are incredibly important not only for their legal merits, but also to draw attention to the misrepresentations of some of these companies in the same way lawsuits against the tobacco industry were about the way they misrepresented connections between smoking and lung cancer,” Yona said.
Several nonprofit organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, Heal the Bay and Baykeeper, together filed a separate lawsuit against ExxonMobil on Monday, also in San Francisco. The attorney general’s office and the nonprofits are coordinating their legal approach and both lawsuits make similar claims.
Six of the top-polling candidates in California’s race for governor faced off at a debate in San Francisco Wednesday night.
This marked the first debate since former East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race for governor and resigned from his seat. Despite Swalwell’s exit as well as the departure of Betty Yee from the race, no clear Democratic frontrunner has emerged.
The debate was hosted by Nexstar/KRON in San Francisco.
The candidates at this debate included four Democrats: former Congresswoman Katie Porter, former California State Attorney General Xavier Beccera, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer. The two Republicans at this debate included former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
All candidates are trying to make an impression ahead of the June 2 primary. Ballots will be mailed out to California voters in early May.
Political analyst Larry Gerston examines the first California governor’s race debate since Eric Swalwell dropped out, hosted by Nexstar/KRON in San Francisco.
California
Federal appeals court blocks California law requiring federal agents to wear identification
LOS ANGELES — An appeals court has blocked a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification.
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that it violated the constitution because the state is directly regulating the federal government.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal Wednesday. It had already granted a temporary administrative injunction to block the implementation of the law.
At a hearing March 3, Justice Department lawyers argued that the California law sought to regulate the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
The appeals court agreed unanimously, saying the law “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” in an opinion written by Judge Mark J. Bennett. The panel was composed of two Trump appointees, Bennett and Daniel P. Collins, and Obama appointee Jacqueline H. Nguyen.
California lawyers argued that the law applied equally to all law enforcement officers without discriminating against the U.S. government, and that states could apply “generally applicable” laws federal agents. They also argued that the law was important to address public safety concerns.
People are more likely to attack officers in self-defense if there’s no visible identification letting the public know they are law enforcement, California lawyers said in a brief opposing the injunction.
“This confusion has resulted in federal law enforcement officials being mistaken for criminals and vice versa, creating serious risk of harm to peace officers and members of the public,” they wrote.
The appeals court judges said they did not consider the public safety factors because the federal government has demonstrate its constitutional rights would be violated by the legislation, and “all citizens have a stake in upholding the Constitution,” it ruled, quoting previous case law.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called it a “huge legal victory” in a post on X.
The California Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The initial lawsuit also addressed another California measure signed into law last year that would have banned most law enforcement officers from wearing masks, neck gaiters, and other facial coverings. It was blocked by a federal judge in February.
The legislation did not apply to state law enforcement and made exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and other situations where not wearing a mask would jeopardize the operation.
California
California Islamic calligraphy artist preserves ancient tradition during Arab American Heritage Month
As Arab American Heritage Month is celebrated, one Northern California artist is keeping the centuries-old tradition of Islamic calligraphy alive, one carefully measured stroke at a time.
Sehar Shahzad is a student calligrapher. Before starting any project, Shahzad said “one of the first things that calligraphers learn is how to cut their pens.”
Her tools must be in pristine condition.
“Your instruments are just as important as anything else in this art,” she said.
Shahzad said that as a young girl growing up in Toronto, she took up Islamic calligraphy while reflecting on her religion.
“It’s not like I’d never seen it before, but it was my first time kind of trying it,” she said. “And there’s no other way to say it except that I just fell in love with it.”
Now married with three children, Islamic calligraphy is very much part of her life.
“I remember thinking that this isn’t something that I just want to learn for fun,” she said. “I really want to be able to master it.”
Shahzad said that every angle and curve follows strict geometric rules and is measured with dots.
“For example, this letter here was just a little bit too long, so we use these nuqtas to help us guide and understand how long that letter should be,” she said.
Like the Arabic language, Islamic calligraphy is read from right to left. Its bold simplicity requires precision and a deep understanding of proportion.
“When you’re creating a composition, it’s not only about the letter itself,” Shahzad said. “It’s about composition as a whole and making sure that everything balances together.”
Even though she’s still mastering her form, Shahzad’s work is featured in the prayer room of a Muslim cemetery in Napa and in the domes of mosques in San Jose, Hayward, and San Francisco.
Still, she considers her work on paper the most special.
“A form of meditation, a form of worship, requires focus, requires discipline, really brings me to a different space,” Shahzad said. “And I think that’s what I love most.”
Proving that in this fast-paced world, this millennia-long tradition is far from disappearing.
Shahzad’s work will be featured at the upcoming Light Upon Light art exhibit at the Tarbiya Institute in Roseville from April 24-26.
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