Jury Orders Greenpeace to Pay Hundreds of Millions Over Dakota Pipeline Protests
A North Dakota jury delivered a staggering $660 million blow to Greenpeace, finding the environmental group liable for its role in the heated Dakota Access Pipeline protests of 2016-2017. The verdict, reached by a nine-person jury, hit three Greenpeace entities hard: USA, Fund, and International. Civil conspiracy claims were central to Energy Transfer’s legal victory. Talk about an expensive protest.
Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s owner, claimed Greenpeace went way beyond peaceful protest. They accused the environmental group of paying protesters, providing blockade supplies, and spreading false information to derail the 1,172-mile pipeline project. The company, worth over $60 billion, wasn’t messing around when they took Greenpeace to court. With $82 billion in revenue reported in 2024, Energy Transfer clearly had deep pockets for legal battles. Senior attorney Trey Cox declared this verdict as a day of reckoning for the environmental organization.
Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of orchestrating a campaign of paid protests and misinformation to sabotage their massive pipeline project.
Greenpeace didn’t take this lying down. They denied everything, waving the First Amendment flag and calling the lawsuit what they see it as – a classic SLAPP case designed to silence environmental activists. The case is considered one of the largest SLAPP suits ever filed in the United States. But in North Dakota, where anti-SLAPP laws are as scarce as palm trees, that argument didn’t get much traction.
The numbers are mind-boggling. Greenpeace USA got slapped with $404 million in damages, while their Fund and International branches each owe $131 million. For perspective, that’s about ten times what Greenpeace USA typically spends in a year. Ouch.
The pipeline itself has been quite the lightning rod. Running from North Dakota to Illinois, it sparked massive protests near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The tribe wasn’t thrilled about having an oil pipeline near their water supply and sacred sites. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe led the initial resistance against the project, drawing thousands of supporters to their cause. Thousands showed up to protest, including some celebrities looking for their activism fix.
Energy Transfer is doing a victory lap, calling the verdict a “reckoning.” Meanwhile, Greenpeace is promising to fight what they’re calling “Big Oil bullies” all the way to the North Dakota Supreme Court. They’ve even launched a counter-attack with an anti-SLAPP lawsuit in Europe.
The verdict has sent shockwaves through the environmental activism world. Other advocacy groups are watching nervously, wondering if they’ll be next on the corporate lawsuit hit list. It’s a precedent that could make future protesters think twice before breaking out their protest signs.
For now, Greenpeace is stuck with a bill that would make even Jeff Bezos wince. Whether this verdict will survive appeals remains to be seen, but one thing’s clear: in the battle between big oil and environmental activists, the gloves are definitely off.
