Andrew Forrest, an Australian billionaire environmentalist, is quietly funding litigation in the United States targeting ExxonMobil, an oil company whose ventures directly compete with his business, according to federal disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
The foreign agent registration filings show that the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund—which was founded by Forrest and is tied to Forrest's Australia-based social and environmental nonprofit, the Minderoo Foundation—is paying California-based law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy to pursue eco litigation against ExxonMobil.
That firm filed the lawsuit against ExxonMobil in California state court in September, accusing the company of concealing the harms of its petrochemical and plastics business. The complaint was filed on behalf of four American nonprofits—Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club, Heal the Bay, and San Francisco Baykeeper—and in conjunction with the California attorney general's office, which filed a simultaneous and nearly identical lawsuit against ExxonMobil within hours.
While the complaint cited the Minderoo Foundation's "plastics waste makers index," it failed to disclose that Forrest's nonprofit is backing the litigation. Then, four weeks after filing the complaint, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy registered as a foreign agent with the Department of Justice. The firm disclosed in the filing that the Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund paid it $250,000 for its services related to the litigation over a six-month span last year.
The legal effort, if successful, could serve as a major blow to ExxonMobil, which would likely be forced to halt much of its massive petrochemical business and pay large compensatory damages. Such an outcome could have devastating downstream impacts on the American economy and energy security.
The revelation of Forrest's involvement in the effort, meanwhile, provides a window into how foreign interests continue to influence the American legal system and energy sector. Former Chinese Communist Party officials, for example, are funneling millions of dollars in support of American initiatives to replace fossil fuels with green energy, the Free Beacon reported last month.
It also raises questions about the intent behind the litigation. Forrest, who is worth approximately $22.1 billion, amassed much his wealth through his firm Fortescue Energy, a global mining behemoth that has recently shifted to green energy investments like hydrogen, a power source in which ExxonMobil has also invested.
The Minderoo Foundation and ExxonMobil did not respond to requests for comment.
"I just wanted to tell you about ExxonMobil," Forrest remarked during a speech he delivered at Fortescue's 2023 annual shareholder meeting. "It is the company that faces multiple court actions for lying and misleading, firstly, its own government for decades and, secondly, the global public for decades, and [is] now being held to account in the judicial system for its responsibility for global heating."
Forrest then blasted ExxonMobil for its expansion into hydrogen power, saying the company uses fossil fuels instead of other green energy sources to produce its hydrogen power. ExxonMobil's blue hydrogen technology, which relies on natural gas, is far more cost-effective than Fortescue's green hydrogen technology.
The expansion of blue hydrogen by companies like ExxonMobil, then, presents an existential threat for Fortescue and Forrest, who remains Fortescue's largest shareholder and whose wealth is largely locked up in the firm. While Fortescue rose to prominence through its dominance in the global mining sector, the company plans to achieve zero emissions by 2030, which is why it has pursued green hydrogen power investments.
ExxonMobil is fighting back against the Forrest-funded litigation. Last week, the company filed a defamation lawsuit against the environmental groups listed as plaintiffs on the lawsuit.
ExxonMobil additionally listed Forrest's Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund as a defendant and noted Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy's foreign agent registration filings with the Department of Justice. "Few, if any, plaintiff's law firms have been forced by the Department of Justice to register as agents of a foreign entity," ExxonMobil wrote in its complaint.
The company accused the law firm of hiring the environmental groups listed on the complaint as "proxies" and "placeholders" for Forrest's nonprofit. ExxonMobil also underscored how Fortescue is a major competitor.
"Fortescue appears to have adopted a novel strategy for competing against American oil-and-gas producers like ExxonMobil," the complaint continued. "Having failed to successfully compete against ExxonMobil in the marketplace, Fortescue has, on information and belief, orchestrated a campaign to compete by turning the wheels of American justice to the company's self-interested purposes."
The Intergenerational Environment Justice Fund said in a statement to the Guardian that it is not a subsidiary of the Minderoo Foundation or Fortescue. It did not deny that it is controlled by Forrest.
Tyson Redenbarger, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, told the Free Beacon in an email that "Exxon's Texas lawsuit is a distraction" aimed at diverting "attention from the allegations in the California lawsuit which detail how Exxon misled the public on the dangers of plastic."
"The Sierra Club, Surfrider, Heal the Bay and Baykeeper have been exposing the harmful effects of plastic pollution for decades," Redenbarger continued. "Suggesting these highly regarded nonprofits are anyone's 'proxy' or 'stand in' is baseless, and fails to recognize that these nonprofits have been at the forefront of the battle over plastics."