Governments Sue to Cover Up Their Own Failures
by Andy Caldwell
American producers are suffering from myriad lawsuits brought by activist groups and government entities that are ridiculous on their face. First, there was a series of lawsuits aimed directly at oil companies ostensibly due to their wholesale contribution to climate change. Now, various government entities are suing various other companies that are supposedly harming the environment.
For instance, Los Angeles County is suing both Pepsi and Coca-Cola for their role in plastic generation and pollution. As reported by the Associated Press, the county claims both companies have misled the public about the recyclability of their plastic bottles while downplaying the negative environmental and health impacts of plastic disposal. Specifically, the lawsuit charges that both companies have claimed that these bottles can be recycled again and again while the county claims they can only be recycled once.
The companies have also been sued in other jurisdictions, including New York, where the state sued Pepsi for the plastic waste that litters their state. Thankfully, a judge in New York pointed out that there was no cause of action against the companies in the suit for what is in reality a third-party action, that is, it is consumers that are doing the littering.
Failing Mandates
The State of California is, of course, silent on the fact that the recycling market collapsed when China quit taking various waste streams off our hands. All the while, the state keeps collecting the recycling deposit fee while most waste haulers have no choice but to dump most of the contents of our blue cans into the local landfill. Maybe somebody should sue the state for this ongoing fraud.
Is government not complicit for mandating these recycling programs in the first place?
How many mandates are failing because they were unrealistic to begin with?
The big question is: are these merely shakedown lawsuits, or do these various jurisdictions want the companies to go back to glass bottles? Did you know that Los Angeles airport banned the sale of plastic bottles in the airport to cut down on plastic waste? Ostensibly, the airport prefers other options, including glass bottles, which makes me wonder if that is a good idea. After all, would-be terrorists could use this opportunity to fashion a good old-fashioned shank that otherwise would never make it through security.
Local Consumption, National Repercussions
Farther north on the Left Coast, the State of Oregon is suing the largest natural gas company in the state for a 2021 heat wave that killed scores of people. The state also names other companies including Exxon and Shell as it seeks $50 billion in immediate and future damages. Apparently, we are supposed to believe that the local consumption of natural gas affects the weather pattern.
According to MSN, this is the first lawsuit in the nation where a utility company is named in a lawsuit like this. Herein is another example of a suit that names producers, not consumers. Moreover, a suit like this, if successful, would bankrupt the utility. What would the state do if and when a majority of its customers would be without natural gas to heat their homes, heat water, and cook their meals? Once again, the politicians who initiated this suit have no backup plan if they were to win.
Unfortunately, the State of California and jurisdictions like the County of Santa Barbara learned nothing when they sued the bejesus out of our local electric utilities for “causing” wildfires (while neglecting government prohibitions against fuel breaks and controlled burns that would help prevent the fires in the first place). The utilities, to prevent bankruptcy, now simply shut our power off during wind and storm events rather than risk being sued again.
In all these instances, consumers and ratepayers are the losers, while elected officials bully the producers who are only giving consumers what they want and need.
The brutal truth?
Consumers aren’t selling what these activist-legislators are buying (climate change is an existential threat), so they are resorting to lawsuits to further their ridiculous agenda.
Andy Caldwell, Executive Director, COLAB
At all levels, the solution is simple: throw the bums out! City, county and state officials and their employee lobbies: throw them out!
It's almost certain the new administration will not be bailing out poorly run, democratic states. That leaves all governments in California covering their financial asses. Successful or not, the litigation costs will be passed on to consumers as higher prices. Another well thought out political strategy by Sacramento.