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https://apnews.com/article/greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-lawsuit- verdict-5036944c1d2e7d3d7b704437e8110fbb

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — Environmental group Greenpeace must pay more than $660 million in damages for defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil
pipeline’s construction in North Dakota, a jury found Wednesday.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access had accused Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy
and other acts. Greenpeace USA was found liable for all counts, while the others were found liable for some. The damages owed will be spread out in different amounts over the three entities.

Greenpeace said earlier that a large award to the pipeline company would threaten to bankrupt the organization. Following the nine-person jury’s verdict, Greenpeace’s senior legal adviser said the group’s work “is never going to stop.”

“That’s the really important message today, and we’re just walking out and we’re going to get together and figure out what our next steps are,” Deepa Padmanabha told reporters outside the courthouse.

The organization later said it plans to appeal the decision.

“The fight against Big Oil is not over today,” Greenpeace International
General Counsel Kristin Casper said. “We know that the law and the truth
are on our side.”

She said the group will see Energy Transfer in court in July in Amsterdam
in an anti-intimidation lawsuit filed there last month.


The damages total nearly $666.9 million. The jury found Greenpeace USA
must pay the bulk of the damages, nearly $404 million, while Greenpeace
Fund Inc. and Greenpeace International would each pay roughly $131
million.

Energy Transfer called Wednesday’s verdict a “win” for “Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking
the law.”

“While we are pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, 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 company said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The company previously said the state court lawsuit was about Greenpeace
not following the law, not free speech.

In a statement, Energy Transfer attorney Trey Cox said, “This verdict
clearly conveys that when this right to peacefully protest is abused in a lawless and exploitative manner, such actions will be held accountable.”

The case reaches back to protests in 2016 and 2017 against the Dakota
Access Pipeline and its Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. For years the tribe has opposed the line
as a risk to its water supply.

The multistate pipeline transports about 5% of the United States’ daily
oil production. It started transporting oil in mid-2017.

Cox had said Greenpeace carried out a scheme to stop the pipeline’s construction. During opening statements, he alleged Greenpeace paid
outsiders to come into the area and protest, sent blockade supplies,
organized or led protester trainings, and made untrue statements about the project to stop it.

Attorneys for the Greenpeace entities had said there was no evidence to
the claims and that Greenpeace employees had little or no involvement in
the protests and the organizations had nothing to do with Energy
Transfer’s delays in construction or refinancing.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
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