A $300 million trial over Greenpeace’s role in damaging protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) began on Monday, putting the eco-activist group at risk of bankruptcy.
Jury selection begins Monday in the trial that Greenpeace says has the potential to bankrupt the international environmental group. Energy Transfer Partners, the developer of the DAPL, has accused Greenpeace of defamation and inciting damaging sabotage during the pipeline’s construction in 2016 and 2017.
The environmental group has said the lawsuit is a fight over free speech.
“This case is a prime example of corporations abusing the legal system to silence critics and keep their operations secret,” Greenpeace USA interim executive director Sushma Raman said in a statement. “It is also a critical test of the future of the First Amendment – both freedom of speech and peaceful protest – under the Trump Administration and beyond. But we are fighting back, and we are not fighting back alone.”
Energy Transfer has stayed quiet publicly ahead of the trial. Last year, the company said the lawsuit was about illegal interference in the pipeline’s construction, not “free speech.”
“Our lawsuit against Greenpeace is not about free speech as they are trying to claim. It is about them not following the law. We support the rights of all Americans to express their opinions and lawfully protest. However, when it is not done in accordance with our laws, we have a legal system to deal with that. Beyond that we will let our case speak for itself in February,” the company said in September.
Protesters caused millions of dollars worth of damage in attacks on the pipeline and building equipment. One activist, Jessica Reznicek, was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2021 for setting a bulldozer on fire and damaging portions of the pipeline with an acetylene torch.
Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace and others in 2017 of “directly and indirectly fund[ing] eco-terrorists on the ground in North Dakota. These groups formed their own outlaw camp among peaceful protestors gathered near Lake Oahe, and exploited the peaceful activities of these groups to further the Enterprise’s corrupt agenda by inducing and directing violent and destructive attacks against law enforcement as well as Plaintiffs’ property and personnel.”