Commentary: #WaterProtectors on trial again as #Greenpeace case begins in #NorthDakota

by #WinonaLaDuke
February 24, 2025

Excerpt: "North Dakota v. USA

"In March of last year, I was a federal witness in the North Dakota v. United States of America trial in Bismarck, where North Dakota charged that the United States Army Corps of Engineers had caused the #StandingRock #resistance by issuing a conditional use permit for the flood plain. Attorneys asked if I came to Standing Rock resistance camp because the Army Corps issued a permit. My response: No. I came for the #water,and I came because #LaDonnaBraveBull Allard asked me to come. I came because #Enbridge, the Canadian #pipeline company, had proposed a Sandpiper #pipeline across our territory in northern Minnesota and we defeated them, only to find that they later financed 28% of the #DakotaAccessPipeline. I came for the water.

"#EnergyTransfer v. #Greenpeace

"There’s another big trial starting Monday in #MandanNorthDakota, too, in Morton County District Court. There, Judge James Gion will preside over a jury trial in the case of Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace. Energy Transfer charges that Greenpeace effectively orchestrated and was a force driving the Standing Rock resistance. That allegation is pretty surprising to the thousands of people who came to Standing Rock without even hearing about Greenpeace being there. That case will be heard behind #ClosedDoors, no livestreaming, and yet somehow a judge in a small county without a law clerk will make sure the justice of a jury trial is carried out. The case with a multitude of pretrial motions is described as the largest in North Dakota history, so carrying out justice, well that’s a challenge.

"'This is a pretty ludicrous accusation,' noted #DeepaPadmanabha, Greenpeace’s senior legal counsel, responding to charges that Greenpeace effectively orchestrated and was a force driving the Standing Rock resistance. 'Standing Rock was one of the largest #Indigenous-led protests in history. It was a grassroots-led resistance, and the idea that Greenpeace orchestrated it is a #racist attempt to erase #IndigenousHistory.'

"But it might be what you’d expect from a company whose CEO once said that protesters who damaged construction equipment should be 'removed from the gene pool.'

"I’d encourage you to watch the trial online, but unfortunately, Judge Gion has denied a motion to arrange for the trial to be streamed online.

"As The Wall Street Journal reported in September, 'both sides expect a #FossilFuel - friendly jury.' Check out the
'community' page on the company’s daplpipelinefacts.com website and you’ll understand why. There’s a picture of Mandan town employees appreciatively holding up a giant check representing Energy Transfer’s $3 million donation to upgrade the town’s library and other infrastructure.

"Energy Transfer is suing Greenpeace for damages, initially proposed at $300 million, in what Greenpeace has called an effort to bankrupt the organization. Greenpeace is the 50-year-old environmental organization which has been part of opposing #NuclearTesting in the Pacific, saving #whales from factory #trawlers, and challenging #BigOil. That’s something you are not supposed to do in North Dakota, it seems, where oil money slicks through all the systems. In North Dakota, the message seems to be, No one should oppose a pipeline project. No one."

Read more:
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/02/24/greenpeace-dakota-access-trial-commentary/
#WaterIsLife #StandWithStandingRock #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #StandWithStandingRock
#CorporateColonialism
#BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer