By: Mary Steurer
MANDAN, N.D. — A Morton County jury on Wednesday ordered Greenpeace to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline, finding that the environmental group incited illegal behavior by anti-pipeline protesters and defamed the company.
The nine-person jury delivered a verdict in favor of Energy Transfer on most counts, awarding more than $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer and Dakota Access LLC.
The case centers on Greenpeace’s involvement in protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017. The demonstrations were started by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which views the project as a pollution threat and imposition onto Native land. Thousands of protesters camped for months north of the Standing Rock Reservation, near where the pipeline crosses underneath the Missouri River in Morton County.
Energy Transfer filed the colossal lawsuit in 2019, accusing Greenpeace of providing resources, including supplies, intel and training, to encourage Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to commit criminal acts to stop construction of the project. The company also claims that Greenpeace intentionally spread misinformation about the pipeline to tarnish its reputation with banks.
“These are the facts, not the fake news of the Greenpeace propaganda machine,” Trey Cox, the lead attorney representing Energy Transfer, said in a press conference outside the Morton County Courthouse after the verdict.
Energy Transfer representatives believe protesting is an “inherent American right” but that Greenpeace’s actions were “unacceptable,” Cox continued.
The company sued three Greenpeace entities — Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund.
The jury found Greenpeace USA liable for almost all claims. The jury did not find Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund responsible for the alleged on-the-ground harms committed by protesters, but did find those entities liable for defamation and interfering with Energy Transfer’s business. The jury found Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International liable for conspiracy.
Attorneys representing Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Fund told the jury that they never had any employees visit the demonstration camps or provide money to support the protests.
Both the plaintiffs and the defense have called the case one of the largest and most complex civil suits in state history.
Greenpeace USA, which the jury ordered to pay more than $400 million of the damages, has previously said the lawsuit threatened to bankrupt the organization. When asked whether that was still the case Wednesday afternoon, Greenpeace Senior Legal Adviser Deepa Padmanabha said “the work of Greenpeace is never gonna stop.”
Greenpeace didn’t say immediately whether the organization would appeal the decision.
“We have not had a chance to even circle up as a group yet, but the fight is not over,” Padmanabha said.
During closing arguments on Monday, Cox told jurors that Greenpeace’s actions caused between $265 million and $340 million in damages to the company. He asked the jury to award Energy Transfer that amount plus additional punitive damages.
The verdict brought to a close a more than three-week trial in Mandan. The jury began deliberating Monday afternoon after hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, including current and former Greenpeace employees, Indigenous activists, Energy Transfer representatives and law enforcement.
Among the witnesses was former Greenpeace executive director Annie Leonard and Energy Transfer Executive Chairman Kelcy Warren, who appeared by video deposition.
Greenpeace denies the allegations and says the lawsuit is a ploy to punish activist groups.
Some observers of the trial who participated in the anti-pipeline demonstration expressed anger after the verdict was announced Wednesday.
“Standing Rock was not heard,” Waniya Locke, a Standing Rock citizen who attended much of the trial, said. She said that she will continue opposing the pipeline.
Kandi White, a member of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation who also observed the trial, said she is “ashamed” of the decision. She said she found the implication that Greenpeace orchestrated the Dakota Access Pipeline protests insulting to Standing Rock and the other Native nations that were at the center of the movement.
“An appeal should be easy for any court,” White said.