Greenpeace’s fight against ET’s SLAPP lawsuit

Stay tuned for updates on the continued legal battle against Energy Transfer as well as the global response to this attack on free speech and peaceful protest.

Dakota Access Pipeline Day of Action in Los Angeles © Jonathan Alcorn / Greenpeace

Big Oil bully Energy Transfer is waging a SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace entities in the United States (Greenpeace Inc., and Greenpeace Fund) in an attempt to silence protest and rewrite the history of the Indigenous-led protest movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. A jury in Morton County, North Dakota found the Greenpeace entities liable for more than $660 million on 19 March.

This fight is far from over!

All together now: #WeWillNotBeSilenced

Energy Transfer’s meritless, back-to-back lawsuits against Greenpeace International and Greenpeace entities in the US since 2017 are perhaps the world’s most brazen examples of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP).

Although laws against SLAPPs are being proposed and implemented around the world, these abusive lawsuits are currently a weapon of Big Oil bullies.

ET’s SLAPP represents a crucial test of this dangerous legal tactic that, if successful, could see it even more widely applied against peaceful protesters, especially in the US, and anyone who speaks out or criticises a deep-pocketed corporation.

Updates from the trial in North Dakota and the global response

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    Global Week of Action: Solidarity against Energy Transfer's Lawsuit in Granada (Spain). © Greenpeace / Pablo Blazquez

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    Free Speech Message Delivered to Energy Transfer in Dallas. © Laura Buckman / Greenpeace
    Greenpeace activists stand outside Klyde Warren Park with signs for a recent campaign aimed at Energy Transfer. Greenpeace USA began running a series of advertisements targeted at oil company Energy Transfer (ET) near their corporate headquarters, over the company’s attempt to use the legal system to intimidate and silence critics. The ads, running messages like “Don’t Mess With Free Speech” and “Democracy Runs on Free Speech, Not Oil and Gas” appeared in Dallas. The displays and accompanying yard signs are part of a new campaign to defend freedom of expression in the United States and save Greenpeace USA from a corporate intimidation tactic designed to shutter the storied environmental and climate organization.
    © Laura Buckman / Greenpeace
    Legal Documents from ET’s SLAPP lawsuit
    Climate March during COP25 in Madrid. © Pablo Blazquez / Greenpeace
    Thousands of people march in Madrid to demand politicians take ambitious action to save the climate. Several collectives, including Greenpeace, and Fridays for Future march along the Paseo del Prado street in the capital city of Spain and end at Nuevos Ministerios where a music concert takes place. © Pablo Blazquez / Greenpeace
    Dutch Anti-SLAPP Lawsuit