Greenpeace says its future is threatened by Texas pipeline company's lawsuit [View all]

After years of operating the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, Texas-based Energy Transfer is taking Greenpeace to court in a case that the U.S. affiliate of the environmental group says could bring financial ruin.

At the center of the lawsuit are 2016 and 2017 protests against a part of the pipeline route at a Missouri River crossing north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Members of the tribe said the route threatened their primary water source and sacred sites, and that they weren't consulted about it. Hundreds were arrested throughout the demonstrations, including during especially aggressive law enforcement action in which police descended on protesters with pepper spray and armored vehicles.

The Dakota Access Pipeline was eventually finished and has transported oil since June 2017.

Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access later alleged Greenpeace International and Greenpeace USA took part in trespassing, nuisance and defamation in a lawsuit filed in North Dakota state court in 2019. Energy Transfer is suing for $300 million.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/culture/article/greenpeace-energy-transfer-lawsuit-20184706.php