Lost Green

Greenpeace faces its demise:

Associated Press summarized Energy Transfer's case thusly: [Energy Transfer attorney Trey] Cox said Greenpeace exploited a small, disorganized, local issue to promote its agenda, calling Greenpeace “master manipulators” and “deceptive to the core.” Greenpeace paid professional protesters, organized or led protester trainings, shared intelligence of the pipeline route with protesters and sent lockboxes for demonstrators to attach themselves to equipment, Cox said. Among a number of alleged defamatory statements were that the company deliberately desecrated burial grounds during construction, which Cox said was done to harm Energy Transfer’s reputation in the international investment community. The company made 140 slight adjustments to its route to avoid disturbing sacred or cultural sites, he said. Greenpeace’s “lies impacted lenders,” Cox said. Energy Transfer suffered $96 million in lost financing and $7 million in public relations costs, he said. The pipeline was delayed by five months, and the company lost $80 million because it couldn’t turn on the spigot on Jan. 1, 2017, when oil was to start flowing, Cox said. For its part, Greenpeace has attempted to frame the lawsuit as a First Amendment issue with a dash of racism thrown into the mix. In an appeal on a trial-dedicated website, the organization claimed: Energy Transfer, the Big Oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, claims that Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International organized the 2016-2017 Standing Rock resistance. This is a false and racist attempt to erase Indigenous leadership from this historic protest. […] If we lose, Greenpeace USA could face financial ruin, ending over 50 years of environmental activism. But this is bigger than just us… Energy Transfer’s lawsuit threatens our fundamental rights to organize and protest. A win for them sets a dangerous precedent – allowing more attacks on unions, activists, and journalists – and silencing our speech through intimidation. Sorry, terrorists: the First Amendment does not guarantee the right to damage property, physically attack workers, or defame law-abiding companies. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff on almost all counts, ruling that Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The loss is expected to bankrupt the half-century-old environmentalist nuisance organization.

They'll have to be annoying somewhere else...