Greenpeace Liable for $660 Million in DAPL Lawsuit

A nine-person jury in North Dakota has found Greenpeace liable for over $660 million in damages and defamation related to the Standing Rock Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Greenpeace has labeled it as a strategic lawsuit against public participation trying to silence activists, and an attempt to erase Indigenous leadership by claiming that Greenpeace orchestrated the entire movement. While the Obama administration initially blocked the pipeline's construction, the Trump administration later reversed this decision, allowing the project to proceed.

Photo Credit: Robyn Beck 

The Dakota Access Pipeline runs within a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation 

The DAPL is a 1,172-mile underground pipeline transporting crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois, moving an amount equivalent to 3,000 tanker trucks of oil daily. In Patoka, Illinois, the pipeline connects with the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, which then delivers oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast. The DAPL runs beneath a Missouri River reservoir called Lake Oahe, passing just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota- tribe members are concerned the pipeline will jeopardize the primary water source for the reservation, and construction would further damage sacred sites near the lake, violating tribal treaty rights. 

Constant Spills

The tribe members’ concern is understandable. Also passing by North Dakota, the Keystone pipeline has experienced several spills since it began operation. One of the biggest spills took place in North Dakota in 2011, releasing around 500 barrels of oil. The most significant Keystone spill took place in Kansas, leaking an estimated 14,000 barrels of oil into a creek. Oil spills can have widespread, long-term consequences including the destruction of topsoil essential for agriculture and the acute toxicity they pose to wildlife. 

On April 4th, 2025, the Keystone pipeline spilled again in North Dakota, releasing 3,500 barrels of oil onto farmland. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration identified a pattern of increasingly frequent incidents on the Keystone system, relating to the original design, manufacturing of the pipe, or construction of the pipeline. 

In addition to these incidents, the DAPL also spilled over five times within the first six months of operation in 2017.