Eco Bullies Face Blowback As Greenpeace Takes $660M Legal Hit

When Greenpeace lost a recent $660 million case over its organization of a violent pipeline protest, the most unusual part of the story was neither the jury confirming that environmental organizations do this sort of thing all the time (they do) nor the size of the verdict (although that was impressive). [emphasis, links added]

The most interesting part of the story was that an energy company and its top executive had finally stood up to the strong-arm tactics routinely employed by professional environmental political operatives and grifters rather than caving to their ridiculous demands.

In 2016, Greenpeace deployed operatives and assorted stooges to North Dakota to organize opposition to a pipeline being constructed by Energy Transfer, based in Texas.

The crew at Greenpeace provided funding and equipment to the protesters, who lit fires, destroyed equipment, fought private security and law enforcement officers, trespassed on private property, chained themselves to construction vehicles, and just generally became a public nuisance.

It will probably amaze you to learn that Greenpeace also trafficked lies that the pipeline would cross tribal lands.

The good news is that the pipeline was eventually completed, making everyone in the United States who uses energy more prosperous and secure.

The bad news is that the delays cost Energy Transfer and its investors hundreds of millions of dollars. Energy Transfer CEO Kelcy Warren decided he didn’t like being muscled by the environmental goon squad and fought back.

Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace to recoup the damages it incurred as a result of Greenpeace’s illegal activities. In March, a jury agreed that Greenpeace was responsible for its actions.

That decision put Greenpeace USA on the brink of bankruptcy.

The idea that the group could be held responsible for its actions caught Greenpeace and its fellow travelers by surprise. Who can blame them? These professional agitators are not used to companies that fight back, probably because most companies don’t.

When confronted by well-organized, well-prepared, well-funded political machines posing as environmental organizations, most companies buy into what has become a de facto protection racket.

In the 1990s, Shell spent three years and millions of dollars performing environmental assessments on the best way to dispose of an outdated oil platform. The consensus was to strip the platform of dangerous materials and sink it into the North Sea to serve as an artificial reef.

Relying on data later proved faulty, Greenpeace warned of an environmental catastrophe. The group landed a group of protesters on the platform, which they illegally occupied for weeks.

During the ensuing campaign, Shell stations in Germany were targeted with violence and firebombings. Although it was correct in the science, Shell capitulated and disassembled the platform on land, which posed more significant environmental risks than had it been disassembled at sea.

In Germany, Greenpeace launched protests against coal-powered electricity from the energy company RWE. The protests included illegally occupying the German Embassy in London to unfurl an anti-coal banner.

RWE caved to Greenpeace’s pressure and accelerated the shutdown of its coal fleet. Since then, Germany’s once-robust economy has gone into a tailspin because of a self-inflicted energy crisis and an overreliance on natural gas from Russia.

In the United States, a Louisiana power company announced the early retirement of a coal-fired power plant as part of a settlement with the Sierra Club.

Meanwhile, electricity demand is soaring, electricity providers are struggling to meet it, and regulators forecast that more than half the country may face electricity shortages in the next five years.

Groups such as Greenpeace don’t care about energy shortages, lost jobs, or the lives destroyed by economic calamities, but some energy executives, including Mr. Warren, do.

In a 2017 interview, Mr. Warren said, “Everybody is afraid of these environmental groups and the fear that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people. … What they did to us is wrong, and they’re going to pay for it.”

Read rest at Washington Times