Greenpeace ordered to pay defaming oil firm in protests
A jury in North Dakota has ordered Greenpeace to pay for defaming an oil firm. The jury found it liable and ordered $660 million or £507 million in damages to the oil company after the environmental group staged one of the largest anti-fossil fuel protests in American history.
Texas-based Energy Transfer has also accused Greenpeace of trespassing, nuisance, and civil conspiracy after demonstrations nearly ten years ago against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The lawsuit, filed in state court, argued that the group had been behind an “unlawful and violent scheme to cause financial harm to Energy Transfer.”
Greenpeace has vowed to appeal the decision. It said that this could force it into bankruptcy and bring an end to half a century of activism.
Protests against the pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation saw thousands join in opposition. But the organisation said that it had not led the protests, saying that the lawsuit was a threat to freedom of speech. It argued that the protests were led by local indigenous leaders who had opposed the pipeline.
The protests caused between $265 million and $340 million in damages according to Trey Cox, a lawyer for Energy Transfer who asked the jury to award the company that amount as well as additional damages.
Construction of the pipeline gained international attention during Donald Trump’s first term. Native American groups set up an encampment hoping to block it from passing near Standing Rock. Over 10,000, at its peak, were there to protest including over 200 Native American tribes, actors, and political leaders.
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