About
For seven years Energy Transfer has pursued a $300 million conspiracy lawsuit against Greenpeace, alleging that one of the world’s largest environmental nonprofits was pulling the strings behind the most significant Indigenous uprising in half a century. The original lawsuit, filed as a RICO case in federal court, argued that it was Greenpeace — not members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe or footage of private security and police violence — that drew tens of thousands of people to the prairies of North Dakota in 2016 to attempt to stop the Dakota Access oil pipeline. For those who were actually involved in the movement, it was a preposterous narrative. Greenpeace was at best a bit player in the sprawling story of the Standing Rock movement.
The pipeline company’s attempt to use laws written to deal with the mob to go after environmental protestors failed, but that didn’t stop them. They refiled the suit as a conspiracy claim in North Dakota state court and, in March 2025…they won. Not only did they win, but they were awarded more than twice the damages they claimed, over $666 million, a settlement that could bankrupt Greenpeace and set a precedent with grave implications for the Indigenous and environmental defenders who continue to rise up against the fossil fuel industry as the climate crisis deepens.
The message: If you fight back, we will shut you down. The funny thing about a lawsuit like this, though, is that sometimes it shakes loose information that isn’t part of the plaintiff’s plan. As Greenpeace and Energy Transfer argued over which details could be presented before a jury trial, and what kind of evidence each party would have to hand over to the other, new details began to dribble out about what happened behind closed doors as Energy Transfer built its pipeline.
In this season of Drilled, we follow reporter Alleen Brown through a legal trial that will change the course of activism in the U.S. and beyond.
SLAPP’d Episode 4 | Back to the Water
A return to the heart of the matter: the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s water.
A return to the heart of the matter: the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s water.
SLAPP’d Episode 3 | The Charge
By this point, Energy Transfer has quietly dropped both Cody Hall and the other Indigenous activist initially named in the suit, Krystal Two Bulls, from the case and is focused solely on Greenpeace. So what exactly is Energy Transfer accusing them of? And what evidence do they have?””
By this point, Energy Transfer has quietly dropped both Cody Hall and the other Indigenous activist initially named in the suit, Krystal Two Bulls, from the case and is focused solely on Greenpeace. So what exactly is Energy Transfer accusing them of? And what evidence do they have?””
SLAPP’d Episode 2 | The Trial Begins
Deep biases emerge during jury selection in the Energy Transfer v Greenpeace trial in North Dakota.
Deep biases emerge during jury selection in the Energy Transfer v Greenpeace trial in North Dakota.
Welcome to SLAPP’d | Episode 1: How did we get here?
A look back at the Standing Rock protests as we try to understand a $666 million verdict, the erasure of Indigenous activists in it, the First Amendment concerns it raises, and how it obscures ongoing leaks and spills from the Dakota Access pipeline.
A look back at the Standing Rock protests as we try to understand a $666 million verdict, the erasure of Indigenous activists in it, the First Amendment concerns it raises, and how it obscures ongoing leaks and spills from the Dakota Access pipeline.
