In a victory for Energy Transfer, a nine-person North Dakota jury held the environmental organization Greenpeace responsible for more than $660 million in damages and slander for the 2016–2017 Standing Rock demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace, claiming it was responsible for defamation, disruption, and property destruction during the 2016 demonstrations that drew national attention. Greenpeace said that the case harmed its freedom of expression.
In a statement, Energy Transfer said, “This victory is really for the people of Mandan and North Dakota who have had to endure the daily harassment and interruptions caused by Greenpeace-funded and trained demonstrators. It is also a victory for all law-abiding Americans who see the distinction between the right to free expression and violating the law.”
Greenpeace intends to appeal the ruling. “This marks the conclusion of one chapter, but not the end of our battle. Energy Transfer understands that we do not have $660 million. They want quiet, not money.” Sushma Raman, Greenpeace Inc’s temporary executive director, told CBS News.
Greenpeace accused Energy Transfer of pursuing a “SLAPP” case, an acronym for strategic litigation against public involvement. SLAPP cases have been condemned as a means of restricting free speech and assembly by people, groups, or the press by threatening long and costly legal actions in court. Anti-SLAPP legislation have been enacted in 35 states to prohibit such litigation. North Dakota is not among them.
Energy Transfer earlier brought a federal RICO lawsuit against Greenpeace in 2017, demanding $300 million in damages, but the case was rejected by a federal court. Energy Transfer then launched a lawsuit against Greenpeace in North Dakota state court soon thereafter.
“The verdict against Greenpeace not only represents an assault on free speech and protest rights,” said Rebecca Brown, President and CEO of the Center for International and Environmental Law, in a statement. “This case is a classic example of corporations using the legal system to stifle protesters and frighten communities. This abuse of the legal system silences genuine opposition and poses a direct danger to environmental justice and democratic liberties.
Greenpeace warned in the weeks and months leading up to the trial that the damages claimed by Energy Transfer, estimated at $300 million at the time, would be devastating to the organization, amounting to ten times the group’s annual operating budget in the United States. Energy Transfer generated more than $82 billion in revenue in 2024.
The final amount for damages is around $667 million, which will be divided among different Greenpeace branches. According to The Associated Press, Greenpeace USA is obligated to pay around $404 million, while Greenpeace Fund Inc. and Greenpeace International are each required to pay $131 million.
Despite the controversy and protest over a pipeline crossing beneath Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the 1,172-mile pipeline has been in operation since late 2017 across four states. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe denounced the project as a breach of its treaty rights, claiming that the pipeline route will pollute the tribe’s principal water supply and harm holy sites.
The Standing Rock demonstrations gathered hundreds of people from around the nation to camp outside the pipeline building site. Celebrities and notable personalities, including current Trump cabinet members Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, also visited the camp.
However, violence broke out numerous times between police, security guards, and demonstrators, culminating in the deployment of tear gas and water cannons against the protestors. The camps were removed in February 2017. More than 140 individuals were detained during the Standing Rock demonstrations.
Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney with the Lakota People’s Law Project, was one of the protest organizers and was arrested during the rallies on charges of felony inciting a riot. Iron Eyes questioned Greenpeace’s responsibility for the demonstrations.
“I never met a single Greenpeace person, a representative, or ever went to a training or anything like that,” Iron Eyes said to CBS News.
Instead, Iron Eyes believes the verdict undermines the concerns and agency of Native Americans who decided to protest at Standing Rock. “To hold them solely responsible for our fight, this is a tribal nation fight,” according to him. “I think it’s disrespectful to tribal nations, to the Sioux Nation in particular, it was our nation, and our people who stood up.”