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California's strategy is to counter push to expand fossil

fuels

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Bonta says administration has 'head-in-the-sand' attitude

to

climate change

By Valerie Volcovici and Sheila Dang

Sept 24 (Reuters) - California Attorney General Rob

Bonta said on Wednesday his state would continue to sue the

Trump administration's aggressive deregulatory actions on

environmental rules, and was also looking at more lawsuits

connected to deception around plastic recycling.

Speaking on the "Climate Frontlines" show live from Times Square

during New York Climate Week, Bonta told Reuters: "Each and

every time they violate the law, they hurt my state, my people,

we will sue them, we will take them to court."

"So far that's meant more than one a week. We definitely

have more lawsuits planned," he said.

California's broader strategy is to counter the administration's

push to expand fossil fuels and its sidelining of climate

science that underpins its rapid-fire environmental policy

rollbacks.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday,

U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as "the

greatest con job" in the world, doubling down on his skepticism

of mainstream climate science and his opposition to renewable

energy.

"We're looking at the many actions that are being taken to

sort of adopt this pro-fossil fuel 'head-in-the-sand' when it

comes to climate change and climate science, a position that

results in a lot of rollbacks of positions of the Biden

administration that we believe were sound," Bonta told Reuters

in a separate interview.

This involves focusing on federal agencies' potential

violations of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Earlier this week, Bonta co-led a coalition of 23 attorneys

general and seven counties and cities in a joint letter opposing

the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rescission of its

2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public's

health, the underpinning of federal greenhouse gas regulations.

The public comment period on the rescission ended on Monday

and the EPA could issue a final rule later this year, opening

the agency up to lawsuits.

Asked whether California would sue the administration over

the rescission, knowing that the case could end up in the

Supreme Court, which has recently favored the Trump

administration on major environmental cases, Bonta said his

office will weigh the risks. If the Supreme Court upholds the

rescission, it could make it harder for a future administration

to take on a new endangerment finding.

"We want to stop unlawful actions that we think that we have a

strong chance, based on the facts and the law, to stop.

Sometimes that does mean going to federal court, with the very

possibility that we can go to intermediate appellate court and

then U.S. Supreme Court," he said.

EXXON JUDGMENT DAY

Bonta also said the state will keep its focus on major

fossil fuel companies and more lawsuits related to plastic

recycling.

"We are looking more broadly at the myth of plastic

recycling. ... We are looking at the possibility of another

lawsuit," he said during the Climate Frontlines show.

In September 2024, Bonta sued Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), the largest

U.S. oil producer, for what he alleged was a decades-long

campaign to deceive consumers about the recyclability of plastic

products and cover up a reality that minimal amounts of plastic

waste in the U.S. are recycled.

In January, Exxon filed its own lawsuit against Bonta, accusing

him of defaming and disparaging the company's advanced plastic

recycling initiatives, as well as alleging he had a connection

to one of the company's competitors.

Bonta said in the separate interview with Reuters that he

believed Exxon was seeking to delay "judgment day" in the legal

process, which was still in its early stage.

"We sued with a lot of investigatory material behind us," he

said. "We think it's very strong and we think we're going to

prevail."

Bonta declined to comment on whether there were settlement

discussions in either lawsuit.

"We won't stand for a defamatory campaign about our advanced

recycling technology

-

a technology that has processed more than 100 million pounds

of plastic waste that would otherwise have been burned or

buried," an Exxon spokesperson said in a statement.

PROCESSED FOODS

Bonta also identified ultra-processed foods, which have come

under fire in recent months over claims many popular packaged

food products have been engineered to addict people, as an

"issue of great interest" for his office but declined to comment

on any pending investigations.

Researchers have considered many packaged snack foods, sweets

and soft drinks made with substances extracted from whole foods

or synthesized artificially, as ultra-processed. The products

have been targeted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr as a

contributor to childhood obesity and other health problems.

"Ultra-processed foods are a problem, there's no doubt about

it," Bonta said. "But I think there is really sound science on

this, that's where we start, with the facts and the science and

go from there."