SACRAMENTO, California — California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Exxon Mobil in a lawsuit filed today of misleading the public about the environmental consequences of plastic production for decades, his office said in a news release.
The first-of-its-kind civil suit targets the world’s largest producer of chemical compounds that go into making plastic. Bonta, a Democrat, is seeking damages that he alleged were a result of Exxon’s promotion of single-use plastics.
“Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of Exxon Mobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold Exxon Mobil fully accountable,” Bonta said in a statement.
Exxon couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The suit in San Francisco County Superior Court, which comes a year after Bonta sued Exxon and four other oil majors seeking compensation for climate change damages, reflects California’s increasingly aggressive effort to hold the industry accountable for climate harms as the state transitions from fossil fuels to renewables.