By Jo Nova

Greenpeace USA say it may be bankrupted by a pipeline billionaire

Even though the evidence for a climate catastrophe is “overwhelming” and they have the media 120% on their side, Greenpeace have failed to persuade the voters to share their outrage and cancel the pipelines that carry “fossil” fuels. So they moved to lawfare and slow sabotage through dubious protests that stopped companies from carrying out legal business activity. Now finally, after years of battling, one pipeline billionaire is said to be “within spitting distance of winning a $300 million dollar case against them. His company is called Energy Transfer, and he is worth $7 billion.

In 2016, Greenpeace and some native American tribal groups and activists camped for months in a corner of North Dakota to stop the crude oil pipeline his company was building.

The case is set for trial in February in North Dakota. Obviously the outcome is not known, but everyone seems to be acting as if they do. The first line of the Wall Street Journal says he “is about to land a knockout punch on Greenpeace. ”

By Benoît Morenne, WSJ

Energy Transfer’s lawsuit alleges several Greenpeace entities incited the Dakota Access protests, funded attacks to damage the pipeline, and spread misinformation about the company and its project. The case is set for trial in February in a North Dakota state court, where both sides expect a fossil-fuel-friendly jury. Energy Transfer is seeking $300 million in damages, which would likely wipe out Greenpeace USA, according to the group’s leadership.

Deepa Padmanabha, Greenpeace USA’s acting co-executive director, said the lawsuit is “an existential threat” to the group.

Kelce claims people have not wanted to take on these protestors for fear it would “look wrong”:

“Everybody is afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people,” Warren said in a 2017 TV interview. “But what they did to us is wrong, and they’re gonna pay for it.”

If the Pipeline billionaire does win the $300 million suit, it will wipe out Greenpeace USA (but not the whole Greenpeace international circus.)

May the floodgates open

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the European arm of Greenpeace has just been ordered to pay $50,000 in fines for getting in the way of oil tankers in 2022:

A court in the town of Svendborg in Denmark has imposed fines totalling DKK360,000 (US$53,000) against the local branch of environmental activist group Greenpeace in connection with some of its members’ actions in attempting to disrupt the movement of crude oil imported from Russia.

After years of petulant antics, Greenpeace has lost its sacred unsuable glow (at least in some states). But ponder what a travesty the justice system is. The pipeline was delayed in 2016, and instead of authorities protecting a legal activity at the time, here we are eight years later, after a million or two has been send to lawyers, and we still don’t have certainty. Meanwhile, Greenpeace and others delayed a product that people wanted. Some poor deplorables must have paid more than they would have for crude oil based products during the delay, but they won’t get a cent back in compensation. If only people could sue the justice system…