Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren’s company, Energy Transfer, was attacked by Greenpeace USA over its involvement in building the Dakota Access Pipeline.
But Warren is fighting back in a $300 million lawsuit against the organization.
The lawsuit alleges several Greenpeace entities incited and funded Dakota Access protests, including physical attacks to damage the pipeline, aw well as spreading misinformation about the company and the project.
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Warren said in a 2017 interview, “Everybody is afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people.”
“But what they did to us is wrong, and they’re gonna pay for it.”
The project, according to WSJ, became a flashpoint in the environmental movement’s crusade against major fossil fuel infrastructure developments.
In February 2017, The Gateway Pundit reported that military vehicles, bulldozers, and heavily armed police were called in to remove protesters who were blocking the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
President Trump signed an executive order reviving the projectafter being stalled for months under President Obama.
Energy Transfer is suing several Greenpeace International entities for $300 million in damages, including claims relating to protests surrounding the pipeline’s construction.
Per The Daily Caller:
Eco-activists flocked to the construction site of the pipeline in North Dakota in 2016 to try to stop the $3.8 billion project from being built, and clashes between the protesters and law enforcement occasionally turned violent, according to the WSJ. The lawsuit, which seeks $300 million in damages, would probably crush Greenpeace USA, though it does not pose such a threat to Greenpeace’s international operations because the organization’s main organizing body based in the Netherlands does not own assets in the U.S.
The company tried to sue in federal court first, and refiled the suit in a state court after a federal judge threw out the original litigation, according to the WSJ. Energy Transfer is pursuing the lawsuit under a law that was originally created to go after the mafia.
The lawsuit contends that Greenpeace USA was principally responsible for delaying the project’s construction resulting in millions of dollars of additional costs for Energy Transfer.
Greenpeace is framing the lawsuit as an attack on free speech writing on their website, “Like all SLAPPs, Energy Transfer’s current, meritless US $300 million lawsuit against Greenpeace is an attack on two key elements of public advocacy: free speech and peaceful protest.”
They’re suing to recover so-called “losses.” But really, this is about bankrupting Greenpeace and silencing protestors. This lawsuit would establish dangerous case law allowing corporations to go after bystanders at peaceful protests.
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) August 1, 2024
Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, has been critical of Democrats, including leftist darlings AOC and Beta O’Rourke, for pushing the New Green Deal and climate alarmism.
His common sense approach led to praise from President Trump.
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: “The whole climate crisis is not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science. There is no climate crisis, there’s weather and climate all around the world, and in fact carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life.” @foxandfriends Wow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019
That was too much for Greenpeace, who promptly removed him from its list of founders.
