Greenpeace may leave US after $US660m fine for pipeline protests

Greenpeace has been ordered to pay more than $US660m in damages relating to its protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Picture: AP

Greenpeace has been ordered to pay more than $US660m ($1.04bn) in damages in a defamation lawsuit related to its protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

A jury in North Dakota found the environmental group liable for defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts.

Greenpeace promised to appeal against the judgment, which followed a three-week trial and two days of deliberation. Deepa Padmanabha, senior legal adviser for the organisation, which is headquartered in The Netherlands, said: “This fight is not over.”

Before the verdict Greenpeace had warned that a multimillion-dollar fine would force it to close its US operations.

Ms Padmanabha would not comment on the group’s future, but said its work “is never going stop”, adding: “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.”

During the trial, lawyers for Greenpeace said the lawsuit, filed by the Dallas-based Energy Transfer, one of the largest pipeline companies in the country, was “ridiculous”, and that the group was being made a scapegoat for the extensive protests at Standing Rock, the Sioux reservation through which the pipeline cut.

Members of the tribe sued to stop the pipeline crossing their land, arguing it infringed on their sovereign territory, threatened their water supply and damaged ancient cultural sites.

The demonstrations began in earnest in April 2016, and hundreds of people were arrested before the protest camp was dismantled by police the following February. The 1880km pipeline was completed later that year, but the Standing Rock tribe is still trying to shut it down.

Trey Cox, representing the pipeline company, told the jury that Greenpeace funded and encouraged the protests, damaging Energy Transfer’s reputation and costing it $US340m. “Greenpeace took a small, disorganised, local issue and exploited it to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline and promote its own selfish agenda,” he said. “They thought they’d never get caught.”

Greenpeace argued that the trial was a violation of first amendment rights and had dangerous implications for activists.

However, Kelcy Warren, co-founder of Energy Transfer and board chairman, argued in a video played to the court on Monday that the case was a matter of principle.

“We’ve got to stand up for ourselves,” said Mr Warren, who donated US5m to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, adding that Greenpeace had created a “false narrative” about his company. “It was time to fight back,” he said.

THE TIMES