The Greenpeace logo at the association’s green ecological consciousness in Lyon, France, on October 23, 2024.
Elsa Biyick | AFP | Pictures of getty
A jury Wednesday ordered the group of environmental campaigns Greenpeace pay more than $ 660 million In damage to the energy transfer of the Texas oil company, the Dakota access gas pipeline.
A jury of nine people in Mandan, North Dakota, reached a verdict after about two days of deliberation. The result found Greenpeace responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars on actions carried Almost a decade ago.
Mark an extraordinary legal blow for Greenpeace, which had previously warned That you can be forced to bankrupt due to the case. The Environmental Defense Group said that it intends to resort to the verdict.
« This case should alarm everyone, regardless of their political inclinations, » said the interim executive of Greenpeace Us Sushma Raman he said In a statement published on Wednesday.
« It is part of a renewed push of corporations to arm our courts to silence dissent. We all should worry about the future of the first amendment and demands like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free expression, » said Raman.
Greenpeace described the case of energy transfer as a clear example of slappps, use to a demand designed to bury activist groups in legal rates and, finally, to silence dissent. Slapp is an acronym for « strategic demand against public participation ».
The transfer of energy said that the jury’s verdict was a « victory » for the « North -Americans who understand the difference between the right to free expression and breaching the law », according to The associated pressquoting a company statement.
« Although we are pleased that Greenpeace has been responsible for his actions against us, this victory is really for the people of Mandan and all North Dakota who had to live through the harassment and daily interruptions caused by the protesters funded and made up of Greenpeace, » the company added.
An energy transfer spokesman was not immediately available to comment when on Thursday morning contacted CNBC.
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