Greenpeace Ordered to Pay $345M to Energy Transfer

A United States===North Dakota judge, James Gion, has stated he will order Greenpeace and its entities, Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace Fund Inc., to pay $345 million in damages to Energy Transfer. This judgment stems from a lawsuit related to protests against the Energy Transfer===Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017, where a jury found Greenpeace entities liable for defamation, conspiracy, trespass, nuisance, and tortious interference. The original jury award was $666.9 million, which Judge Gion reduced by about half. Greenpeace USA has declared it cannot afford the $404 million portion of the judgment it was ordered to pay, citing $1.4 million in cash and $23 million in total assets, and warns of potential cessation of normal operations if the judgment is enforced. Both Energy Transfer, which seeks to appeal for the original higher damages, and Greenpeace, which plans to appeal the current ruling, expect to continue the legal process in the United States===North Dakota Supreme Court. The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation had opposed the pipeline, citing threats to its water supply.