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Oct 29 (Reuters) - A judge in North Dakota on Wednesday slashed by almost half jury-awarded damages of about $667 million against environmental advocacy group Greenpeace over its role in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Sign up here. Greenpeace interim general counsel, Marco Simons, said the group "still believe[s] that the remaining claims are legally unfounded" and the case "has always been about a wealthy corporation using the legal system to intimidate its critics and muzzle protesters who threaten its business model." Spokespeople and an attorney for Energy Transfer did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision. The Dakota Access project near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation began in 2016 and was completed in 2017. Construction of the pipeline, which now transports roughly 40% of the oil produced in North Dakota’s Bakken region, was met with fierce protests by environmental and tribal advocacy groups who said it would poison the local water supply and exacerbate climate change. Texas-based Energy Transfer first sued Greenpeace in North Dakota federal court in 2017 and accused it of spreading falsehoods about the project and paying protesters to disrupt construction. The North Dakota jury delivered its verdict in March, including damages for defamation, trespassing and conspiracy. Greenpeace countersued Energy Transfer in the Netherlands in February under a European law aimed at curbing lawsuits filed to harass or silence activists. That lawsuit is ongoing. Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Edwina Gibbs Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.
