With dangerous attacks on Tesla dealerships and college campuses in the news every day, it is alarming how many protesters believe that the First Amendment entitles them to freely destroy property and commit violent acts. But a recent jury decision in North Dakota may finally turn the tide against these extremists and remind them that no one is above the law.
In North Dakota, a jury found that the environmental activist group Greenpeace was liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages resulting from its 2016 protests against the construction of a natural gas pipeline in the state. Greenpeace was accused of lying about the project, organizing the protests, and funding attacks that vandalized construction vehicles and threatened law enforcement.
CANNON BALL, ND – FEBRUARY 22: Campers set structures on fire in preparation of the Army Corp’s 2pm deadline to leave the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on February 22, 2017 in Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Activists and protesters have occupied the Standing Rock Sioux reservation for months in opposition to the completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo by Stephen Yang/Getty Images)
Greenpeace has now been ordered to pay Energy Transfer, the energy company behind the pipeline, for both its actual losses and punitive damages, and the group’s radical allies are outraged. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: How Greenpeace’s Pipeline Protests Ultimately Led It To The Brink Of Bankruptcy)
In response to the verdict, the director of Friends of the Earth Europe told reporters, “The right to protest is under threat across the world.” Another climate change organization said, “The effect of a verdict like this, without question, could be to chill speech.”
But these groups, like Greenpeace, don’t understand that speech was never the issue in the North Dakota trial. It was Greenpeace’s actions that led to its expensive penalties.
During the trial, jurors learned that Greenpeace paid for professional trainers to be sent to protest camps and led supply drives to help stock the Red Warrior encampment, a particularly radical resistance group that led multiple attacks against the pipeline and its workers.
Greenpeace also shared intelligence about the pipeline route with protesters and paid for lockboxes that demonstrators used to lock themselves to construction equipment. The protesters, who Greenpeace encouraged, trained and financially supported, eventually set dangerous fires near the pipeline and violently clashed with local police. (RELATED: North Dakota Jury Rules Greenpeace Liable For Hundreds Of Millions In Damages)
At the time, Greenpeace was proud of its leadership in the protests. The group’s executive director even sent an e-mail to the Greenpeace board saying that the organization had played “a massive role … since day one.”
The protests eventually delayed the pipeline’s construction by five months and left an expensive mess behind for local communities. Protesters set fire to the camp before abandoning it, leading to explosions that injured children. They also left behind roughly 200 abandoned vehicles that posed a contamination risk to nearby waterways. Ironic, given that the protesters were allegedly concerned about potential contamination from the pipeline they were protesting.
Nonetheless, Greenpeace successfully fundraised off their efforts in North Dakota and collected millions of dollars in donations. By that measure, their efforts were a success. But they didn’t count on a North Dakota jury actually holding them accountable for their actions, and now the group stands to lose up to $660 million as a result.
The Greenpeace trial should be a reminder to other groups that their right to protest does not include a right to break laws, damage property, and endanger people. This is an especially important lesson as the nation embarks on an energy agenda that radical environmentalists will oppose.
Under President Trump, vital American energy resources like natural gas and coal are poised to have a resurgence. The President has declared a national energy emergency and is streamlining the permitting process for new energy projects that will enable America to better compete in the 21st century.
But as the President moves to speed up these projects, environmental groups will be working to slow them down. The takeaway from North Dakota is that these groups must stay within the law when fighting these efforts, or they should be ready to pay a steep price.
Mandy Gunasekara served as chief of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency in 2020 under Donald Trump’s first term. She previously served as policy advisor to the agency and advocated for downsizing and the cutting of red tape.
