Global oil company Exxon Mobil filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the Sierra Club, and other environmental organizations including San Francisco Baykeeper, Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation, claiming they worked in concert to defame the energy giant in a previous court battle.

Exxon Mobil filed the new lawsuit on December 30, 2024, following a prior lawsuit filed by Mr. Bonta against the company in September 2023. In that case, Bonta claimed that the oil company ran a “campaign of deception” regarding its “advanced recycling” program and allegedly tricked consumers into purchasing more single-use plastics, falsely claiming they could or would be recycled.

As the state of California filed its lawsuit against Exxon, four environmental groups also filed suit against the company. Their suits claim that Exxon violated state nuisance and unfair competition laws.

This latest salvo by Exxon alleges the California attorney general denounced Exxon’s program during that prior court trial, and that the language used by Mr. Banta in court was negative and defamed the company. Exxon’s complaint alleges that Mr. Banta operated “a deliberate smear campaign.”

Exxon filed the suit in the Eastern District of Texas. In court documents, the company said that “Exxon Mobil has not engaged in a decades-long secret mission to brainwash or deceive the public.”

The company’s civil complaint refers to specific language used by Mr. Bonta during the lawsuit against Exxon in September. The giant oil company alleges the defendants conspired to defame the company, and hurt its business, while the state and company disagreed on whether or not certain plastics can be recycled successfully.

Exxon’s legal maneuver marks an escalation in the legal conflict between oil companies and environmental groups, which have spent years fighting over environmental concerns related to fossil fuels, plastics and climate change. Mr. Bonta’s lawsuit followed a two-year investigation and sought “multiple billions of dollars” in damages.

Legal documents filed by Exxon claim that Mr. Bonta made misleading and false statements in public events and interviews concerning plastics recycling and Exxon’s program that led once-promising business ventures to disintegrate. Rebutting Bonta’s comments, Exxon says in its lawsuit that “Advanced recycling is not a ‘farce’ or ‘myth.”

The environmental battle between oil companies and environmental groups has been raging for decades. Nonprofit environmental organization The Sierra Club said in a statement that Exxon’s suit is “a shameless attempt at intimidation.” The statement continued, “Exxon is clearly confused about the difference between defamation and accountability.”

The California Department of Justice agrees. In its own statement, the state’s law enforcement agency and legal department said that the new suit filed by Exxon is “another attempt from Exxon Mobil to deflect attention from its own unlawful deception.”

While oil and plastics firms promote the idea that recycling is a way to solve the issue of plastic waste, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that less than ten percent of plastic created in 2018 was recycled, but that number is now growing. One of the problems with recycling plastics, the report said, is the high expense.

Exxon is seeking monetary damages in the new lawsuit, plus public retractions from Mr. Bonta and the environmental groups.