BISMARCK - A jury in the United States has ordered Greenpeace to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in a defamation lawsuit brought by oil pipeline ...
operator Energy Transfer, raising serious free speech concerns. The environmental advocacy group has said it will appeal last Wednesday’s verdict, which came almost a decade after activists joined a protest led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline, in one of the largest anti-fossil fuel protests in US history.
The jury in North Dakota awarded more than $660million in damages across three Greenpeace entities, citing charges including trespass, nuisance, conspiracy and deprivation of property access. Energy Transfer, a Texas-based company worth $64billion, celebrated the verdict and has denied attempting to stifle speech. “We would like to thank the judge and the jury for the incredible amount of time and effort they dedicated to this trial,” the company said in a statement. “While we are pleased that Greenpeace will be held accountable for their actions, 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.”
The nine-person jury in Mandan, North Dakota, deliberated for two days, in the trial which began in late February, before finding in favor of Energy Transfer on most counts. However, a group of lawyers who monitored the case, calling themselves the Trial Monitoring Committee, said many of the jurors had ties to the fossil fuel industry. “Most jurors in the case have ties to the oil and gas industry and some openly admitted they could not be impartial, although the judge seated them anyway”, the committee said in a statement, following jury selection. Greenpeace plans to appeal the verdict. Greenpeace International is also countersuing Energy Transfer in the Netherlands, accusing the company of using nuisance lawsuits to suppress dissent. A hearing in that case is set for July 2. “The fight against Big Oil is not over today”, said Greenpeace International General Counsel Kristin Casper. “We know that the law and the truth are on our side.” (Al Jazeera/Reuters)
