Politics Greenpeace sentenced to millions in damages in the USA
The environmental organization Greenpeace has been sentenced in the USA to pay damages in the hundreds of millions.
20.03.2025, 01:57
20.03.2025, 01:58
SDA
A jury in the US state of North Dakota ruled that the organization was liable for defamation and other allegations in connection with protests against a controversial oil pipeline several years ago. Greenpeace itself announced that several units of the organization had been ordered to pay more than 660 million dollars (more than 605 million euros).
The case concerns the Dakota Access pipeline, which runs from the state of North Dakota on the northern border of the USA to the state of Illinois in the Midwest. It has been in operation since 2017. The background to the lawsuit against Greenpeace is months of protests against the pipeline in 2016 and 2017, in which the organization participated at the time.
In the proceedings, the operating company accused the environmental organization of, among other things, orchestrating the protests and spreading defamatory statements about the pipeline, which had caused economic damage. Greenpeace rejected this and saw the jury's decision as an attack on the freedom to demonstrate. The organization stated that the fight against the lawsuit was not over: "We will not back down. We will not be silenced."
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe had fought against the pipeline for years - and received support from many sides during the protests. The pipeline runs along a Native American reservation, which is why they and environmentalists feared water contamination and damage to sacred sites. Former President Barack Obama had temporarily ordered construction work to be halted, but his successor Donald Trump had campaigned for the pipeline to be completed. Trump has been back in office as president since January.
