Dakota Access developer sues Greenpeace in state court
Posted Feb 23, 2019 10:57:06 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BISMARCK, N.D. — The developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline is seeking millions of dollars from the environmental group Greenpeace and several activists in state court in North Dakota.
Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners filed the civil lawsuit on Thursday, a week after a judge tossed the company’s $1 billion racketeering claim out of federal court. Judge Billy Roy Wilson said he found no evidence of a co-ordinated criminal enterprise.
ETP’s state lawsuit makes similar claims to its federal lawsuit — that Greenpeace and activists conspired to use illegal and violent means to disrupt pipeline construction, damage the company and advance their “extremist agenda.”
Greenpeace accuses ETP of using the legal system to bully “peaceful advocacy.” The group says it’s confident the state lawsuit will meet the same fate as the federal claim.
Blake Nicholson, The Associated Press
