“They’re Going to Pay for It:” Could a Texas Billionaire Force Greenpeace USA Into Bankruptcy?

Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren’s company, Energy Transfer, was attacked by Greenpeace USA for its involvement in the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

But Warren is fighting back, filing a $300 million lawsuit against the organization.

The lawsuit alleges that several Greenpeace organizations incited and funded Dakota Access protests, including physical attacks to damage the pipeline, and spread false information about the company and the project.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Warren said in a 2017 interview, “Everyone is afraid of these environmental organizations and the fear that it will look bad if you fight back with these people.”

“But what they did to us was wrong, and they are going to pay for it.”

According to WSJ, the project became a spearhead in the environmental movement’s crusade against major fossil fuel infrastructure developments.

In February 2017, The Gateway Pundit reported that military vehicles, bulldozers and heavily armed police were deployed to clear protesters blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

President Trump signed an executive order reviving the project after it was stalled for months under President Obama.

Energy Transfer is suing several Greenpeace International entities, seeking $300 million in damages, including claims related to protests surrounding the pipeline’s construction.

According to The Daily Caller:

Environmental activists flocked to the pipeline construction site in North Dakota in 2016 to try to stop construction of the $3.8 billion project, and clashes between the protesters and law enforcement have occasionally turned violent, the WSJ reported. The lawsuit, which seeks $300 million in damages, would likely crush Greenpeace USA, though it poses no such threat to Greenpeace’s international operations because the organization’s main organizing body, based in the Netherlands, has no assets in the U.S.

The company first tried to sue in federal court, then refiled in state court after a federal judge dismissed the original lawsuit, the WSJ reported. Energy Transfer is pursuing the lawsuit under a law originally designed to crack down on the mob.

The lawsuit alleges that Greenpeace USA is primarily responsible for delaying the project’s construction, which has resulted in millions of dollars in additional costs for Energy Transfer.

Greenpeace is presenting the lawsuit as an attack on free speech, it writes on its website: “Like all SLAPPs, Energy Transfer’s current $300 million baseless lawsuit against Greenpeace is an attack on two key elements of public advocacy: free speech and peaceful protest.”

They are suing to recover so-called “losses.” But really, this is about bankrupting Greenpeace and silencing protesters. This lawsuit would create dangerous legal precedent that allows corporations to attack bystanders at peaceful protests.

— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) August 1, 2024

Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has criticized Democrats, including left-wing favorites AOC and Beta O’Rourke, for promoting the New Green Deal and climate alarmism.

His down-to-earth approach earned him praise from President Trump.

Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: “The whole climate crisis is not just fake news, it’s fake science. There is no climate crisis, there is weather and climate all over the world, and in fact carbon dioxide is the most important building block of all life.” @foxandfriends Wow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2019