CliDef Pens Op-Ed in The Nation: “Fossil Fuel Companies Are Silencing Us All”

If you didn’t follow the proceedings of Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace in Mandan, North Dakota last week, you don’t realize how much your free speech has just been compromised.

On March 19, 2025, three entities from the global environmental nonprofit Greenpeace were found liable for $667 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth nearly $70 billion. The suit originated from Greenpeace’s limited role in supporting indigenous-led protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Energy Transfer insists that their claims were about the illegal conduct of protestors and their supporters, but the truth is more disturbing.

Free speech and civil liberty organizations have been sounding the alarm for months about how this decision could chill speech in the United States for everyone. The jury’s verdict, which awarded damages far beyond what Energy Transfer sought, sends an unequivocal message: Public protest can result in crushing financial consequences.

The implications for peaceful civil disobedience are profound.

Read the full article here.