ND (AP) Mandan – The Texas Pipeline Company’s lawsuit seeking potential hundreds of millions of dollars from Greenpeace was set to move forward in an opening statement Wednesday calling for efforts by environmental organizations to silence critics of the oil industry.
The judge’s choice will take place at the beginning of the week, with the currently estimated five-week trial being held in Mandan, North Dakota.
The lawsuit stems from 2016 and 2017 protests against the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline and its controversial Missouri River. Tribes have long been opposed to the pipeline as a risk of its water supply. The pipeline was completed in 2017.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access alleges trespassing, nuisance, honour and other crimes by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International and its US branch Greenpeace USA. The lawsuit is based on Greenpeace Fund Inc., the group’s funding unit.
The lawsuit alleges that Greenpeace tried to delay construction of the pipeline, slander the businesses behind it, and coordinated trespassing, destruction and violence by pipeline protesters.
Greenpeace defendants deny the claim.
Greenpeace says the lawsuit is chasing $300 million, citing figures from previous federal cases. The complaint in the suit seeks damages in the amount proven in court.
Greenpeace representatives say the case is a corporation that abuses the legal system and chases critics, and is an important test of freedom of speech and right to protest.
“We want people who file these types of lawsuits to remain silent and unseen, so we are trying to bring visibility around the fight that will have a major impact on the future of the First Amendment,” said Senior Legal Counsel Deepa Padmanava.
The lawsuit states that Greenpeace is not following the law, not free speech, but energy transfer spokesman Vicki Granado said earlier.
“We support the right of all Americans to express their opinions and to protest legally. But if it’s not done according to our laws, we have a legal system to deal with it,” she said.
The company filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in 2017, and was rejected by a judge in 2019. Energy Transfer then filed a lawsuit in state court.
