Judge Reaffirms Greenpeace Conviction, Orders $345 Million Payment for Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

A judge in North Dakota confirmed on Friday a conviction forcing Greenpeace to pay $345 million in damages against Energy Transfer, an operator of a pipeline the nonprofit protested against, according to a copy of the ruling seen by AFP.

This decision is a blow to the environmental organization, which denounced the intention of Energy Transfer to "shut it up" by driving it to ruin.

The energy conglomerate accused Greenpeace of orchestrating acts of violence and defamation during the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline nearly a decade ago.

A jury sided with it last year and ordered it to pay more than $660 million in damages to three Greenpeace entities, based on charges that included trespassing, nuisance, conspiracy and deprivation of access to property.

That record sum was cut nearly in half Friday by North Dakota Judge James Gion, who found that some damages had been double-counted. 

"Devastating sentence"

The Standing Rock Sioux Indian Tribe (North Dakota) and environmental groups, including Greenpeace, joined on several occasions by thousands of protesters, attempted in vain to prevent construction of a section of the pipeline.

According to the Sioux, the project was to cross sacred sites and threatened their drinking water sources.

The demonstrations ended in hundreds of arrests and injuries.

On the other side, Energy Transfer initially claimed $300 million in damages from Greenpeace.

But, during the trial, the amount was multiplied in order to "deter Greenpeace and other organizations from acting in the same manner in the future," according to one of Energy Transfer's lawyers, Trey Cox, quoted by the North Dakota Monitor newspaper.

Contacted by AFP, Energy Transfer did not react immediatelyo.

"This legal battle is far from over," Kristin Casper, general counsel for Greenpeace International, said in a statement to AFP on the ruling.

"We will request a new trial and, if unsuccessful, we will appeal the ruling to the North Dakota Supreme Court, where Greenpeace International and Greenpeace entities in the United States have strong arguments to get all legal claims against us dismissed," Casper added.

Marco Simons, another Greenpeace legal officer, said, "Denouncing corporations that cause environmental damage should never be considered illegal."

In the words of Michael Gerrard, a law professor at Columbia University and a specialist in climate litigation, this "is a devastating ruling not only for Greenpeace, but also for the global environmental movement."

With information from AFP