MORTON COUNTY, ND (Legal Newsline) - The defense continued its case Wednesday, March 12, in the ongoing lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer, which seeks $300 million in damages from Greenpeace over allegations that the environmental group incited violent protests that delayed the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
Greenpeace had been expected to continue presenting its case for the remainder of the week but rested their case at the time of publication on Thursday. The jury is anticipated to return on Monday to resume deliberations.
The trial, which has drawn national attention, featured a series of key witnesses on March 12, including former Greenpeace Inc. and Greenpeace Fund Executive Director Annie Leonard, Iowa State University anthropologist Dr. Sebastian Braun, former Greenpeace manager Brent Maness, and Energy Transfer's current VP of Public Relations, Vicki Granado.
Leonard, who explained her organization’s limited involvement in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, faced pointed cross-examination.
Plaintiffs' counsel Trey Cox inquired upon Leonard’s use of the term "massive" to describe Greenpeace's role and raised questions about her involvement in fundraising for Indigenous groups.
Cox referenced an email from Leonard to her boss, Greenpeace Inc. Board Chair Karen Topakian, which was shown to the jury multiple times during the trial, reading, "We are doing massive stuff for Standing Rock."
Cox also highlighted an internal email to the Greenpeace team working with IP3, which stated, “We have provided massive support for this cause since Day 1.”
Leonard’s testimony addressed the protests against DAPL, which gained significant attention in 2016. During her direct testimony, Leonard described Greenpeace’s involvement in the protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s (SR) protest camp in 2016, recounting how Tom Goldtooth, founder of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), requested Greenpeace send trainers to the protest site.
Leonard emphasized that “Greenpeace does not go to indigenous events unless they are invited” and she highlighted the organization’s “Indigenous Peoples Policy,” which aims to improve relationships with indigenous communities.
On cross-examination, plaintiffs’ attorney Cox pressed Leonard to explain her characterization of Greenpeace’s involvement in the protests as “massive.” Leonard responded that the term was used in an email out of “exuberance” and noted that Greenpeace’s role was not as substantial as she initially described.
However, in previous days of the trial, a Greenpeace email had been elevated noting the trainers had “potential to provide skills training to 3,000 activists.”
Cox also questioned Leonard about a $90,000 fund she had privately raised for IEN and IP3, bypassing Greenpeace’s 46% tribute rule.
Leonard acknowledged the rule but explained that it was not a motivating factor behind her actions, though an email presented by Cox showed her awareness of it.
Cox also noted that in response to being sent a picture of a protestor using a lockbox to tie themselves to DAPL construction equipment, Leonard texted, "Do you know this person? That certainly ups the ante."
Leonard explained that by "ante," she meant "increase the pressure. I would never encourage violence."
However, moments before this exchange, Cox showed the jury another internal Greenpeace email from Leonard to Nathan Santry, Lilian Molina and Cy Wagoner, which said, "I hope some $$ can go to lockboxes."
Leonard denied that “ante” referred to encouraging violent tactics. However, Cox introduced another email in which Leonard expressed support for lockboxes, a tactic often used to obstruct construction activities.
Notably, Nick Tilsen, who co- founded IP3, is alleged by the plaintiffs to have bragged about being paid $90,000 by Greenpeace while he was being arrested for using a lockbox to blockade equipment.
Maness addressed internal communications related to the protests.
Maness, the former Greenpeace manager, was questioned about his role during the Standing Rock protests. He was asked about an internal group text from 2017, in which he suggested deleting sensitive details after learning about Energy Transfer’s lawsuit against Greenpeace.
“I would not put all those details on an email that might be requested in discovery and I would delete it from this chat,” Maness wrote in the email.
He also addressed a Greenpeace training document from 2015 and denied claims that the organization taught protesters how to use “lockboxes” as a form of obstruction.
Maness also claimed ignorance in regard to a bullet point in Greenpeace’s agenda in which protesters were encouraged to engage in “shaming police.”
On cross examination, Cox asked Maness to explain justifying their claims that his team had approved $55,000 in expense reimbursements during the September through March period, which was over three times the approved and budgeted amount.
Maness explained that not all of those reimbursements were for DAPL protests.
Braun, Director of American Indian Studies at Iowa State University, provided testimony regarding the cultural significance of the disputed land near Lake Oahe, where DAPL’s drilling site is located. He testified that the pipeline runs through what can be construed as historic Sioux tribal land.
Braun, who specializes in Sioux tribal culture and history, affirmed that the land in question is considered “unceded” by the Sioux tribe. He went on during direct questioning from the defense to validate that the disputed land could be culturally significant and a key site for Standing Rock trial burial practices.
“You have to understand the cultural relationship to the environment,” Braun said.
Braun went on to discuss “sky burials,” explaining that prior to the arrival of American settlers, the Sioux tribes did not bury their dead in the ground.
He said the Sioux would perform a ceremony to elevate a corpse off the ground toward the sky at a sacred site, then return the body to a designated location, such as where the person had died, and leave it to decompose there.
“It is possible to have a burial ground in Sioux culture without bones in the ground,” Braun said.
However, under cross-examination, Braun admitted that his testimony heavily relied on the Mentz Declaration, a document submitted by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in legal proceedings against the Army Corps of Engineers. He also acknowledged that he had not directly consulted Tim Mentz, the author of the declaration, which alleged the pipeline site was home to Native American “cultural resources.”
In its initial lawsuit, Energy Transfer Partners noted the Mentz Declaration resulted in “violent riots and protests over Labor Day weekend incited by this purported ‘discovery.’”
“Mentz’s later ‘discovery’ of a miraculous concentration of rare and high-value cultural resources within the construction corridor have since been disproven,” Energy Transfer Partners wrote in its initial lawsuit.
Vicki Granado, who testified via video deposition, described receiving personal threats while working for the company noting she had not heard of Greenpeace's involvement in the protests until 2017.
"[I] personally received threats to myself and my family; specifically my daughter," Granado said.