Daily Caller
Lawsuit Aims To Hold Environmental Group Accountable For Pipeline Protests
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Marchers protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline
The recent spate of anti-Israel demonstrations at college campuses could cause déjà vu for North Dakotans, who endured the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016. Like many of the campus protests, the pipeline protests were funded and fueled by big outside groups that showed little concern for the damaging impacts of their actions.
Now, a lawsuit being heard this summer is designed to hold some of these groups responsible for their actions. Energy Transfer, the owner and operator of the pipeline, is suing Greenpeace and other alleged instigators for $300 million for the damages sustained by the company as a result of these protests. The lawsuit claims that these environmental activists spent months spreading false information about the pipeline project and helped fund out-of-state agitators who attacked law enforcement and damaged property during the protests.
As it relates to the North Dakota controversy, the lawsuit alleges a Greenpeace misinformation campaign began with mass emails falsely claiming that the Dakota Access Pipeline would travel across the sovereign land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, that it would destroy “sacred Native Lands,” and was being approved without proper environmental reviews.
Energy Transfer says none of the claims made by Greenpeace were accurate. It says the pipeline does not cross any Standing Rock land, and the company had made 140 different modifications to its planned route to avoid potentially impacting any culturally important sites. An independent review by the North Dakota Historic Preservation Office later concluded the pipeline affected no historic properties.
Furthermore, the pipeline was approved after years during which multiple environmental studies and reviews were conducted. Pipelines can actually play an important role in improving environmental outcomes because there is a greater likelihood of spills and leaks from other transportation methods like railroads, trucks and barges.
The lawsuit alleges that lies spread by Greenpeace attracted thousands of protesters to North Dakota who soon formed massive encampments.
Energy Transfer claims Greenpeace also helped provide nearly a half-million dollars and additional training to another group of protesters tasked with using violence to stop or delay the pipeline. Greenpeace allegedly continued to support these activities, even organizing fundraising drives across ten cities to collect supplies for the members of the Red Warrior Society. The lawsuit alleges that, in November 2016, members of the encampment raided Energy Transfer property, then lit fires and attacked police with grenades and flares.
In the aftermath of the protests, the suit alleges Greenpeace and its allies left with millions of dollars raised from the protests and their publicity. Meanwhile, North Dakotans were left with the bill to clean-up the environmental disaster of human waste, trash, and abandoned animals left in the encampments. And while the Dakota Access Pipeline was completed, Energy Transfer claims it lost significant amounts of money due to destroyed equipment, security costs, and project delays.
Energy Transfer’s lawsuit seeks to hold Greenpeace and others accountable for these alleged actions. Protesters and the groups that fund them have rights, but so do the individuals and companies who they unfairly malign and attack. The case could be an important reminder to organizations and protesters that free speech is constitutionally protected, but inciting and funding violent actions is not.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Mariane Angela
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement.
The United States joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as countries not part of the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming, the New York Times reported. Trump had previously pulled out of the agreement during his first term, only to see his successor, former president Joe Biden, re-enter it in 2021 after taking office.
This decision aims to increase fossil fuel production and reduce investment in clean energy technologies like electric vehicles and wind turbines, the outlet stated. Additionally, Trump notified the United Nations, which manages the Paris Agreement, of the U.S.’s withdrawal with a signed letter, setting the official exit to occur one year after its submission.
Trump has said in the past that the U.S. involvement in the Paris agreement harms America’s economic competitiveness and would not make a significant impact on the climate. He also said previously that the agreement was poorly negotiated and did not put American workers first.
The Biden administration implemented new emissions goals as part of its efforts to solidify its climate strategy. The Trump administration plans to deregulate the energy sector and roll back funding from Biden’s key climate initiatives. Since Nov. 5, members of Biden administration have distributed $1.6 billion in “environmental justice” grants, secured significant loans for green energy firms, empowered California regulators to influence the national auto market, and published a detailed analysis on the effects of liquefied natural gas exports, potentially hindering Trump’s efforts to expand them.
Daily Caller
Biden Pardons His Brother Jim And Other Family Members Just Moments Before Trump’s Swearing-In
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Nick Pope
President Joe Biden pardoned his brothers and other family members on Monday just moments before President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in
Biden pardoned his brother Frank, his other brother James, James’ wife Sara Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband, John Owens in one of his last acts as president. James was connected to Hunter Biden’s business dealings with overseas partners, while Frank Biden used Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration to promote his Florida law firm in connection with a lawsuit against sugar farmers and reportedly interrupted business meetings to speak on the phone with “the big guy” while working for a manufacturing company based in Illinois.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to spin President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after months of claiming that he would not do so. pic.twitter.com/FpxQJ5m9gE
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 2, 2024
Monday’s last-minute pardons followed Joe Biden’s December 2024 decision to pardon his son Hunter — convicted on federal gun and tax charges in 2024 — for all crimes he may have committed going back to 2014. The pardons for the five other family members will also span back to 2014.
Despite the fact that Joe Biden’s Justice Department oversaw the investigations into Hunter Biden and congressional investigators proved that Biden family members and business associates profited from business deals with overseas oligarchs, Joe Biden said that his family was the victim of “the worst kind of partisan politics.”
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”
“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” the statement continues. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”
James Biden, along with Hunter Biden, were paid millions of dollars by a Chinese energy firm called CEFC to look to secure energy deals in the U.S., though those ventures never materialized, according to a former CEFC associate who testified to congressional investigators in January 2024.
Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, who spearheaded the House impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden, slammed the pardons in a Monday statement, saying that he believes the move indicates the Biden family is likely guilty of the corrupt and unsavory activity of which they have been accused.
“President Biden’s preemptive pardons for the Biden Crime Family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves. Our investigation revealed that at least ten members of the Biden Crime Family and their associates raked in over $30 million by selling Joe Biden’s influence to corrupt foreign entities and individuals in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan,” Comer said. “The legacy media should be ashamed of themselves for covering up Joe Biden and his family’s abuse of power, corruption, and obstruction. The American people have seen through the legacy media’s coverup and the Bidens’ lies, and they know the truth: President Biden abused his public office to create a slush fund for his family.”
Prior to stepping in to protect his family members at the very end of his one term in office, Joe Biden also pardoned Anthony Fauci and other controversial figures before Trump was sworn in as president.
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