Greenpeace and an energy pipeline company are both expected to appeal a North Dakota court’s final ruling Friday that the environmental nonprofit owes about $345 million in damages to oil pipeline developer Energy Transfer.
A North Dakota state judge on Friday issued a long-awaited ruling in the yearslong legal battle stemming from protests over Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017.
The ruling from Judge James Gion represents a sizable reduction from a jury’s March 2025 finding that Greenpeace owed more than $660 million in damages to the pipeline developer, but Greenpeace and its allies warn that even the reduced damages threaten the group’s financial stability and could chill speech and protests across the environmental movement.
Gion announced the reduced damages in October, but Friday’s final ruling allows the parties to contest the judgment.
