James B. Meigs, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said that Energy Transfer’s successful lawsuit against Greenpeace over the 2016-2017 Dakota Access Pipeline protests exposed ‘shady linkages’ between “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) and “violent anarchists.”
“Energy Transfer no doubt faces years of appeals before it can collect any of the staggering $667 million judgment,” Meigs wrote in Commentary. “But the company’s lawsuit has already exposed some of the shady linkages between liberal NGOs and violent anarchists.”
“Evidence produced in court showed that Greenpeace raised $20,000 to send trainers (including a Greenpeace employee) to teach what it called ‘non-violent direct action skills’ to the protesters,” he wrote. “The charity also donated a solar-panel-equipped van, power tools, propane tanks, and other gear. Greenpeace USA then–executive director, Annie Leonard, was all-in on the effort.”
Meigs wrote that the Greenpeace protests fit a pattern of similar protests in recent years in which “a small and often spontaneous protest movement attracts experienced activists who blend in with the nonviolent protesters and then nudge the demonstration toward lawlessness.”
The DAPL protests aimed to halt the construction of the reported $3.8 billion pipeline and “drew thousands of people to camp out” in Morton County, the Associated Press reported. The protests resulted in 761 arrests, according to MPR News. Charges ranged from trespassing to more severe offenses. A significant number of those arrested were from out of state.
California resident and actress Shailene Woodley was arrested in October 2016. Other figures, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, participated in the protests but were not arrested.
Certain days of the protests resulted in dozens of arrests, such as February 1, 2017, when 76 people were arrested after Morton County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Rob Keller said a “rogue group of protesters” had trespassed on private property.
Meigs told the Influence Watch podcast in April that “Greenpeace helped, behind the scenes, to fund the pipeline protests.
He said the successful suit against Greenpeace “may mark the start of a new era” because it “exposed some of the ways that a big-money NGO—and a cadre of radical activists—can steer an initially peaceful protest toward mayhem.”
Greenpeace is appealing the $667 million judgement.
