North Dakota jury rules Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions in damages

A North Dakota jury ruled Wednesday that Greenpeace is liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for defaming an energy company and for its role in disruptive protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline project in 2016 and 2017, according to numerous reports.

Energy Transfer, the company developing the pipeline, sued Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International, and Greenpeace Fund in 2019 seeking $300 million in damages for the activist group’s alleged role in defaming the firm and promoting criminal acts targeting the pipeline by protestors opposed to the project, according to The Associated Press. Greenpeace has previously indicated that a $300 million judgment against it could destroy the group’s U.S. operations.

As things currently stand, Greenpeace will have to pay Energy Transfer $667 million, according to The Washington Post.

“We would like to thank the judge and the jury for the incredible amount of time and effort they dedicated to this trial,” a spokesperson for Energy Transfer said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “While we are pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, this win is really for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace. It is also a win for all law-abiding Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law. That the disrupters have been held responsible is a win for all of us.”

Greenpeace characterized Energy Transfer’s lawsuit as an attack against First Amendment-protected speech, though the jury in Mandan, N.D., evidently did not agree.

“What we saw over these three weeks was Energy Transfer’s blatant disregard for the voices of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,” Deepa Padmanabha, a senior legal advisor for Greenpeace USA, said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “And while they also tried to distort the truth about Greenpeace’s role in the protests, we instead reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to non-violence in every action we take. After almost eight years, we were proud to share our story with the people of Mandan and beyond.”

Energy Transfer, meanwhile, alleged in its lawsuit that Greenpeace compensated outside activists to show up at the site of the development, trained activists, provided materials to build blockades, and amplified false claims about the pipeline in a broader scheme to derail the project, according to the AP.

Kelcy Warren, the co-founder of Energy Transfer and a supporter of President Donald Trump who once said that climate activists should be “removed from the gene pool,” said he believes Greenpeace is responsible for costing his company millions of dollars and delaying the construction of the pipeline.

“Everybody is afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people,” Warren said in a 2017 interview, according to The Wall Street Journal. “But what they did to us is wrong, and they’re gonna pay for it.”

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