Judge stymies corporate case against Dakota Access Pipeline fighters
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News Today Health & Environment Editor
nativesunnews.today
BISMARCK, N. D. – A federal judge here dismissed all charges in the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) builders’ racketeering suit against Greenpeace International and pipeline fighters on February 14.
“Justice has been served,” Greenpeace USA General Counsel Tom Wetterer proclaimed. “This is a huge victory not just for Greenpeace but for anyone and everyone who has ever stood up against powerful corporate interests,” he said in a written statement.
A spokesperson for the plaintiff, Fortune 500 company Energy Transfer Equity, (formerly Energy Transfer Partners) expressed disappointment, but vowed to pursue the case in North Dakota state courts.
North Dakota U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson ruled that the plaintiff could not prove its claims that the environmental group’s support of the native struggle against the private construction project constituted violation of the RICO Act.
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RICO is the acronym for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States.
“RICO is ‘a unique cause of action that is concerned with eradicating organized long-term habitual criminal activity’,” Wilson said. “While there is a common purpose among defendants – they all oppose the DAPL – there is no ongoing organization, no continuing unit, and no ascertainable structure…,” he concluded. “This is far short of what is needed to establish a RICO enterprise.”
Absolved by the decision, along with Greenpeace, were alleged Red Warrior Camp media figures Krystal Two Bulls and Ruby Montoya.
Earlier in the same civil suit, the judge had dismissed similar charges the company pressed against pipeline opponents Earth First! and BankTrack.
The landmark decision puts to rest the last of DAPL majority-owner Energy Transfer’s federal claims in what defense lawyers termed a SLAPP suit – a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.
The decision to dismiss this lawsuit “sends a strong message to all companies trying to silence civil society with baseless cases,” Greenpeace said in the wake of the dismissal. “Donating to people whose cause you support does not create a RICO enterprise.”
The $1-billion lawsuit filed in August 2017 alleged defendants were providing “hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an international terrorist, drug-smuggling RICO enterprise" aimed at stopping pipeline construction.
Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com
Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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