In 2016 and 2017, the left vented its shock and fury at Donald Trump's unexpected victory by, among other things, protesting the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. The "mainstream" media claimed that Energy Transfer was ramming its Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) through all sorts of sacred Native American lands and that no one wanted it.
In fact, Energy Transfer went out of its way to work with natives and locals, and most were glad of the opportunity and prosperity DAPL would provide. Nonetheless, environmentalist activists co-opted a protest by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, making it into the face of the spurious claims. Professional protestors from near and far got into the act, throwing sand into the project's gears at the construction site, at funding sources, and in the PR sphere. In the end, these actions delayed the project by five months and added approximately $350 million to the cost, Energy Transfer claimed in a lawsuit it launched in 2019.
Energy Transfer named three Greenpeace entities — Greenpeace USA, Greenpeace International (based in the Netherlands), and Greenpeace Fund — as the organizers and funders of this sabotage. And on Wednesday, a North Dakota jury found that the infamous non-profit must pay the price for its actions.
The nine-person and two-alternate jury deliberated for two and a half days before arriving at its unanimous verdict.
Associated Press summarized Energy Transfer's case thusly:
[Energy Transfer attorney Trey] Cox said Greenpeace exploited a small, disorganized, local issue to promote its agenda, calling Greenpeace “master manipulators” and “deceptive to the core.”
Greenpeace paid professional protesters, organized or led protester trainings, shared intelligence of the pipeline route with protesters and sent lockboxes for demonstrators to attach themselves to equipment, Cox said.
Among a number of alleged defamatory statements were that the company deliberately desecrated burial grounds during construction, which Cox said was done to harm Energy Transfer’s reputation in the international investment community. The company made 140 slight adjustments to its route to avoid disturbing sacred or cultural sites, he said.
Greenpeace’s “lies impacted lenders,” Cox said. Energy Transfer suffered $96 million in lost financing and $7 million in public relations costs, he said.
The pipeline was delayed by five months, and the company lost $80 million because it couldn’t turn on the spigot on Jan. 1, 2017, when oil was to start flowing, Cox said.
For its part, Greenpeace has attempted to frame the lawsuit as a First Amendment issue with a dash of racism thrown into the mix. In an appeal on a trial-dedicated website, the organization claimed:
Energy Transfer, the Big Oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, claims that Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International organized the 2016-2017 Standing Rock resistance. This is a false and racist attempt to erase Indigenous leadership from this historic protest.
[…] If we lose, Greenpeace USA could face financial ruin, ending over 50 years of environmental activism. But this is bigger than just us…
Energy Transfer’s lawsuit threatens our fundamental rights to organize and protest. A win for them sets a dangerous precedent – allowing more attacks on unions, activists, and journalists – and silencing our speech through intimidation.
Sorry, terrorists: the First Amendment does not guarantee the right to damage property, physically attack workers, or defame law-abiding companies.
The jury found in favor of the plaintiff on almost all counts, ruling that Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The loss is expected to bankrupt the half-century-old environmentalist nuisance organization.
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There will doubtlessly be an appeal — Greenpeace's Senior Legal Adviser, Deepa Padmanabha, said, “We know that this fight is not over.” But at any rate, this is a great day for Americans and people everywhere who are sick to death of environmentalists, BLM, and other disruptive, violent, and destructive Marxist mobs upending their lives under the guise of the right to protest.
Join me as I raise a glass to Energy Transfer and DAPL — Bravo!
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