A North Dakota jury ordered Greenpeace to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for defamation over pipeline protests from nearly a decade ago. The organization intends to file an appeal at a later date.

Energy Transfer Partners sued Greenpeace for defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline. The suit claimed the organization “incited” people to protest by using a “misinformation campaign” in 2016 and 2017.

The environmental group denied the claims and said that such lawsuits aimed to destroy the right to peaceful protest. Some consider the case a SLAPP suit, used to silence critics through costly legal battles, even if the suing entities lose.

Energy Transfer refiled a similar Rico lawsuit in North Dakota state court seven days after its federal racketeering case was dismissed on 14 February 2019, reported the Guardian. 

“We should all be concerned about the future of the first amendment, and lawsuits like these aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech,” said Deepa Padmanabha, the organization’s senior legal adviser, who decried Energy Transfer for disregarding the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Energy Transfer tried to connect Greenpeace to a series of misdeeds and disruptions caused by the protests during the five-week trial. The organization stated their involvement was minimal and at the request of the Standing Rock Tribe.

The Tribe claimed that Energy Transfer filed the lawsuit to silence the tribe and shut down opposition to the pipeline. Greenpeace also failed to obtain a change to the trial venue within North Dakota from both the county and supreme courts.

A Mandan jury ultimately awarded the multi-billion dollar company $660 million after ruling in their favor against Greenpeace, who feared the sum could bankrupt their U.S. operation.

Energy Transfer's statement says that the legal win is for the people of Mandan and North Dakota, who were allegedly harassed by Greenpeace-funded protesters.

Energy Transfer says it offered the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe financial incentives to stop the protests, which the tribe declined. Kelcy Warren, the company’s founder, believes the tribe refused because they were offered more by Earthjustice, a trial-monitoring committee. 

Meanwhile, the tribe asserted that they will not be silenced and will continue to speak out against the threat the pipeline poses to their land, water, and people.

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