A North Dakota jury has ruled against Greenpeace in a high-profile defamation lawsuit, requiring the environmental group to pay more than $660 million (£507 million) in damages to Texas-based oil company Energy Transfer. The verdict is the result of Greenpeace’s involvement in protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline, a massive anti-fossil fuel protest in the history of the United States.
Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace for trespass, nuisance, and civil conspiracy surrounding the demonstrations, which occurred about a decade ago. After two days of deliberation, the nine-member jury in Mandan, roughly 100 miles (160 km) north of the protest site near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, reached the verdict on March 19.
Company Alleges Financial Harm
Energy Transfer’s lawyers contended that Greenpeace stage-managed an “unlawful and violent scheme” with the intent to inflict economic damage on the company. Closing arguments saw the company’s lawyer, Trey Cox, saying that Greenpeace had brought about financial damages ranging from $265 million to $340 million. He asked the jury to grant damages in that range, plus further penalties.
Greenpeace vehemently denied the allegations and pledged to appeal the ruling. The group cautioned last month that the lawsuit had the potential to drive it into bankruptcy, ending its over 50-year history of environmental activism. Greenpeace asserted that it did not organize the protests, stating that Indigenous leaders organized the protests against the pipeline.
Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
The Dakota Access Pipeline was a worldwide symbol of environmental and Indigenous rights activism under the administration of Donald Trump. Protesters set up a massive encampment to stop the construction of the pipeline, claiming that it threatened water sources and sacred tribal territory.
Its high point saw over 10,000 protesters, among them more than 200 Native American tribes’ members, U.S. military veterans, Hollywood actors, and politicians join the cause. Present among them was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now the U.S. health secretary.
The protests, which started in April 2016, were brought to an end in February 2017 when the National Guard and law enforcement cleared the camps forcibly. In spite of continued environmental and legal controversy, the 1,172-mile pipeline has been in use since 2017. Still, it remains without a vital permit to run under Lake Oahe in South Dakota, and local Native American tribes keep insisting on a full environmental review.
Greenpeace Fights Back with Lawsuit
The suit by Energy Transfer targeted Greenpeace USA, its Washington, D.C.-based fundraising group Greenpeace Fund Inc., and its parent, Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam.
Greenpeace has retaliated by filing a suit in the Netherlands against Energy Transfer, charging that the corporation is abusing the judicial system to silence critics. The countersuit, filed earlier in this month, is to recover all damages and legal fees related to the case.
