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California says Exxon lied about plastic recycling... September 24, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( Presented By [EnergyX]( Good morning. Heads up: If you hire John Mulaney for your buzzy corporate conference, he will make things [very uncomfortable](. To cap off Salesforce’s Dreamforce event last Thursday (promoted as the “largest AI event in the world”), the comedian delivered a 45-minute set roasting the tech industry and its employees. “You look like a group who looked at the self-checkout counters at CVS and thought, ‘This is the future,’” he told the audience. Corporate jargon was also on the roasting menu. “Some of the vaguest language ever devised has been used here in the last three days,” he said. “The fact that there are 45,000 ‘trailblazers’ here couldn’t devalue the title any more.” Blue Man Group wouldn’t have said any of that. —Molly Liebergall, Sam Klebanov, Cassandra Cassidy, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 17,974.27 +0.15% S&P 5,718.57 +0.28% Dow 42,124.65 +0.15% 10-Year 3.739% +1.0 bps Bitcoin $63,460.98 +0.27% Intel $22.56 +3.30% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: The S&P 500 and the Dow set [new records]( yesterday as investors kept the good vibes from the Fed’s big interest rate cut going while awaiting more economic data this week. Intel rose following reports that Apollo has offered it a multibillion-dollar investment and Qualcomm has approached it about a takeover.  ENVIRONMENT [CA sues Exxon for billions over alleged recycling lies]( [plastic spilling]( Flores/Getty Images California state officials filed a lawsuit against one of the world’s top oil giants yesterday, accusing Exxon Mobil of driving global pollution by running a “decades-long campaign of deception” that dramatically overstated the effectiveness of plastic recycling. The suit seeks “multiple billions of dollars” in civil damages from Exxon Mobil—a main producer of the petrochemicals used to make single-use plastics—California Attorney General Rob Bonta [said](. In response, an Exxon spokesperson said California “failed to act” on fixing the state’s recycling management, and “now they seek to blame others.” The spokesperson also said, “Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.” It’s billed as first US effort to nail plastics for alleged trickery Following an investigation into Exxon’s practices that took more than two years, Bonta alleges that the half-a-trillion-dollar company knowingly [promoted]( the false promise that anything with the symbol would be recycled if tossed properly, even though it knew this wasn’t possible. Only 5% of US plastic waste is actually recycled, per the environmental advocacy group Beyond Plastics. The lawsuit alleges: - Exxon knew in the 1970s that recycling was too expensive to scale and that plastic waste would pile up, but it boosted petrochemical production anyway and continued to peddle recycling as a solution. That got everyone to buy more single-use plastic. - Exxon has strongly [lobbied]( state and local officials in California (and elsewhere) against restricting or banning plastic production. - Currently, Exxon’s “advanced recycling” program is a “public relations stunt” that only recycles 8% of its plastic waste into new products. The rest is mostly turned into fuel. Piggybacking off that…four environmental groups sued Exxon Mobil yesterday for allegedly breaking California’s nuisance and unfair competition laws (violations also asserted in Bonta’s case). Environmental lawsuits . California already sued Exxon and four other big oil companies last year for allegedly spreading climate change denialism. More than two dozen states and local governments are [pursuing]( similar lawsuits.—ML Presented By EnergyX [General Motors bets big on this “unlisted” stock]( [EnergyX]( For General Motors to succeed in meeting its EV transition target by 2035, they’ll need 414,469 tons of lithium per year. That’s why the automaking behemoth led a $50m investment round for lithium extraction startup [EnergyX](. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods. Plus, [where modern methods take 12+ months, EnergyX needs just two days](. That’s why EnergyX has been entrusted with the rights to 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land and a $5m DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant. It’s not just cars that need batteries, either. The entire $546b energy storage market will depend on securing reliable sources of lithium. EnergyX’s plan to produce 65,000 tons per year will help them lead the charge. However, [EnergyX is only accepting shareholders until Oct. 3](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanon]Kawnat Haju/Getty Images Israeli strikes on Hezbollah kill hundreds in Lebanon. At least 490 people were killed, including 35 children, and 1,600 people were injured in Israeli [airstrikes]( targeting the Iran-backed militant group, which has been shelling northern Israel amid Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. A spokesperson for Israel’s military said it had hit 1,300 Hezbollah targets in what news outlets described as the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel’s 2006 war with the group. Israel has escalated its assaults on Hezbollah over the last week, including coordinated attacks using the group’s pagers and walkie-talkies, but Hezbollah has vowed to keep attacking, as concerns about a regional war grow. Would-be Trump assassin detailed plans in a letter, prosecutors say. The man accused of trying to shoot former President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course, Ryan Wesley Routh, [wrote]( a letter explaining his plans in the event of a failure, prosecutors said in a recent court filing. The letter, addressed to “The World,” said, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump” and offered $150,000 “to whomever can complete the job.” Prosecutors previously said that Routh, who was arrested and charged with two firearm crimes, may have been waiting near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club for 12 hours before being discovered. Yesterday, a judge ruled Routh should be held without bail pending his trial. Boeing offers 30% raise in attempt to end strike. With 30,000 factory workers on strike and 737 production halted for a second week, the embattled aviation company [offered]( to hike wages for union members higher than the original 25% increase over four years they voted to reject. Boeing gave the union until Friday to ratify the improved contract, which also offered a bigger ratification bonus and larger contributions to employee 401(k) plans. The International Association of Machinists, which negotiated the earlier deal that its members rejected, didn’t immediately weigh in on what Boeing called its “best and final” offer.—AR AUTO [US moves to ban cars with Chinese tech]( [Chinese flag cars ]( Kim Americans won’t be able to use the foreign-hackers-tampered-with-my-car excuse when pulled over for speeding. The US plans to [ban cars]( with Chinese software on national security grounds, the Biden administration announced yesterday. The Commerce Department said that the proposed rule—which would all but guarantee that Chinese auto brands will never become household names in the US—would be for safety reasons rather than economic competition. Officials believe the Chinese government could use smart cars to track Americans’ movement or cause road mayhem through cyber sabotage. Do not enter, Chinese cars The proposed rule applies to all vehicles on public roads, including trucks and buses, that are connected to the internet or navigation systems—i.e., most modern cars and all autonomous vehicles. The measure would also outlaw cars with Russian software, as well as hardware parts from China or Russia. - While Chinese vehicles are currently even rarer than clean bathrooms on American roads, the software ban is future-looking and would go into effect for 2027 models. - The hardware parts, used by some non-Chinese car brands, will be prohibited starting with 2030 models. On the economic front…the US recently quadrupled tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100% in order to protect American automakers from what US officials claim are unfairly subsidized cars.—SK TOGETHER WITH SANOFI [Sanofi]( Work wonders. The pharma industry is all about breakthroughs. At Sanofi, you don’t need to be a scientist or a researcher to be part of groundbreaking discoveries. [They offer careers]( in marketing, sales, and much more. [Join them]( as they advance, explore, and succeed for people around the world. REAL ESTATE [Now leasing: apartments in Goldman’s old HQ]( [Goldman Sachs’s old office at 55 Broad St ]( Woolhead/Silverstein Properties If you can’t live like an industry titan, you can at least live where the industry titans used to work. Goldman Sachs’s old headquarters in NYC, now an apartment building, opened its leasing office yesterday, welcoming its first tenants to the light-filled rental units. Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft bought the office tower last year and expect all 571 units to be complete by the middle of 2025, according to [Bloomberg](. Studio apartments are priced at $4,000 a month, with three-bedrooms at $10,000. The former bank headquarters at 55 Broad Street is the latest converted property in New York City as savvy developers look to use old, vacant buildings in a work-from-home world that’s left many offices and downtowns shuttered. Why convert? To save money. Metro Loft CEO Nathan Berman estimates that when finished, the property conversion will cost roughly 60% of a wholly new apartment building. It also skirts the arduous permitting process required for new construction. In New York, it’s gaining steam. A recent study found that office-to-residential conversion deals accounted for [half]( of all development sales in Manhattan for the first half of this year. Still, not all developers are cuckoo for converted real estate. It can be a headache—some buildings are easier to convert than others—and the pressures of dealing with zoning and regulations often make it difficult to secure financing.—CC STAT [Prime number: Kmart closeout](#) [The Kmart in Bridgehampton, NY]Newsday LLC/Getty Images Attention, Kmart shoppers: Your days of strolling through wide aisles in a cavernous warehouse full of discounted goods are numbered. The retail chain is reportedly slated to [close]( its last full-size US store, a location in Bridgehampton, NY, on Oct. 20. That’ll leave a smaller store in Miami and outposts in Guam and the US Virgin Islands…which is a whole lot less than the chain had when it scooped up Sears in an $11 billion dollar merger in 2005 that it hoped would help it compete against other big-box chains like Walmart. At the time, Kmart had ~1,400 stores, while Sears had almost 900. But the competition just kept coming (the rise of Amazon didn’t help), and the combined company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, emerging with just 425 Kmart and Sears stores, a number that has since dwindled.—AR NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [German Chancellor Olaf Scholz]( warned Italian bank UniCredit against “unfriendly” acts after the bank upped its stake in Germany’s Commerzbank, eclipsing the country as its largest shareholder. - [New FBI stats]( show violent crime fell 3% from 2022 to 2023. Murder was down 11.6%, making it the biggest drop in 20 years. - [California]( banned plastic shopping bags, even thicker ones billed as reusable, at grocery stores as of 2026. - [A powerful storm]( which will be called Hurricane Helene if it gains strength, is forecast to make landfall in Florida on Thursday. - [Two Russian cosmonauts]( one of whom completed the longest stay in space, and a US astronaut returned from the International Space Station to Earth yesterday. RECS [Tuesday To Do List] Read: What we can learn about America from [chicken nuggets](. Mix and match: [Tips from interior decorators]( on how to use patterns without clashing. Watch: Why you were probably [taught to read]( the wrong way. Check your settings: How to opt your LinkedIn out of being used for [AI training](. Invest: Lithium demand will grow 20x by 2040. EnergyX extracts [300% more]( than current methods, earning them $100m in investment from GM and others. [Invest in EnergyX by Oct. 3]( Go coconuts: What’s making everyone go nuts for coconut water like [Vita Coco]( Check out [our video]( we conduct a (veryyy scientific) report on this sweet stuff.* *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew Mini: You won’t break a sweat playing today’s Mini. [Try it here](. Starts with two vowels The following clues lead to words or names that have the unique characteristic of starting with two vowels. Eerie. 1. A rock band from Boston fronted by Steven Tyler 2. The Greek king of Thebes with a thing for his mother 3. Minor character in Oppenheimer who was born in Germany in 1879 and died in Princeton, NJ, in 1955 4. The largest blood vessel in your body 5. Arthur Read is one of these. 6. You might be reading the Brew through this Microsoft service. SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER - Aerosmith - Oedipus - Einstein - Aorta - Aardvark - Outlook Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: cavernous, meaning “like a cave in size, shape, or atmosphere.” Thanks to Sarah from Chicago for the dank suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✢ A Note From EnergyX Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX's Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular at [invest.energyx.com/](. Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Molly Liebergall]( Sam Klebanov, and [Cassandra Cassidy]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Interested in podcasts? - Check out ours [here]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011