Greenpeace attorneys and staff pose for a group photo outside the Morton County courthouse. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)
(Mary SteurerNorth Dakota Monitor) – An attorney representing the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline told a jury of Morton County residents on Wednesday morning that Greenpeace was secretly behind the protests that halted its construction back in 2016.
“They didn’t think that there would ever be a day of reckoning, but that day of reckoning starts today,” Trey Cox said in opening arguments for Energy Transfer’s case against the environmental group.
Energy Transfer is expected to spend the next two weeks presenting its case. The full trial is scheduled for five weeks, not including jury deliberation.
The company says that Greenpeace backed unlawful, destructive behavior by Dakota Access Pipeline protesters who camped near the Standing Rock Reservation in 2016 and 2017. It also says that Greenpeace launched a misinformation campaign to undermine the project, causing a six-month construction delay and inflating the pipeline’s financing costs.
Energy Transfer seeks roughly $300 million from Greenpeace
