This week the climate advocacy group Greenpeace was ordered to pay $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protests against DAPL in 2016 and 2017 were organized by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous water protectors. Greenpeace peacefully supported the protests but was charged with defamation by Energy Transfer.
Now, a North Dakota ruling in favor of Energy Transfer could have far reaching effects on first-amendment rights and is an alarming instance of a corporation using a lawsuit to intimidate activists. Greenpeace is appealing the verdict.
In light of these developments, on today’s show we’re re-airing a conversation from October 5, 2018 in which host Esty Dinur speaks with women on the front lines of oil pipeline protests.
Featured image of a pipeline protest via Leslie Peterson on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).
