Environmental Justice
Greenpeace faces existential risk in a North Dakota courtroom.
“When karma lands, it lands hard.” – Tom Fitton
Beginning in the early 2010s, oil production from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota surged. Over five years, production increased sixfold to nearly 1.2 million barrels per day. Local infrastructure struggled to keep up, and existing pipelines quickly became a bottleneck, forcing producers to rely on rail and trucks to transport crude to distant refineries. Amid this frenzy of new economic activity, Energy Transfer Partners (ET) proposed the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project.
As originally conceived, the 1,172-mile underground pipeline would move 570,000 barrels per day south, seamlessly integrating the Bakken into the national energy network. Few major US infrastructure projects were more timely or necessary, and market participants hoped for swift construction. After two years of careful planning and with the requisite permits in hand, ET began construction in 2016. What happened next stunned industry observers.
For multiple reasons, the professional environmental protest industry mobilized to halt the DAPL project, making it a top global priority. The tactics used during the months-long siege set a new standard for violence and wanton criminality. According to court filings submitted by the company, the protesters pursued a campaign of “militant direct action,” regularly trespassing on ET’s private property, destroying construction equipment, and assaulting employees and contractors. Improvised explosive devices were deployed to attack police, hacked information was used to threaten officers and their families, and weapons were used to kill the livestock of local farmers and ranchers. At certain points, local authorities were overwhelmed, barely able to control the riots.
As part of the campaign, a new organization—the Red Warrior Society, and its physical incarnation, Red Warrior Camp—was created, funded, and trained allegedly by outside environmental groups. The propaganda proliferated by the Red Warriors was shockingly direct in its militancy, even openly calling for the murder of security guards. Here is more from ET’s court filings:
“In another Facebook post, Red Warrior Society provided ‘instructions’ for disabling security guards or other law enforcement that stated: ‘Step I. Wait for sentry to check his Facebook page on his phone. Step 2. Stab him in the neck’ and depicted a man dressed in a military-style uniform being stabbed in the neck.”
The protests continued through early 2017 when newly elected President Donald Trump issued a memorandum ordering the project's completion. On February 22, law enforcement moved in to clear the camp, and the National Guard was called in to assist in finalizing the operation the following day. The protesters, however, left behind a mountain of hypocrisy:
“Cleanup crews have removed 48 million pounds of trash so far from the largest Dakota Access oil pipeline protest camp — and they’re not finished yet. The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services said Tuesday that a Florida-based contractor hired at a cost of $1 million to clear trash, waste and other debris from the Oceti Sakowin camp has hauled 24,000 tons of garbage since protesters were evacuated Thursday from the area…
Activists have argued that the trash left behind pales by comparison to the threat of an oil pipeline running below Lake Oahe...”
Garbage was not the only thing the protesters left behind. There was also the question of legal culpability for the events, and ET was quick to blame Greenpeace USA and its parent organization, Greenpeace International, for much of what transpired. ET filed suit against both and several others in federal court, alleging racketeering and other charges. The racketeering claim was dismissed in 2019, but several remaining accusations were refiled in state court. After years of legal wrangling, the trial finally began last Monday in a North Dakota courtroom. On the line for Greenpeace is nothing less than its financial viability, as ET is suing for the incredible sum of $300 million in damages. Judging by behavior leading up to the proceedings and the particulars of the case, environmentalists seem rightfully concerned.