A judge has denied a motion to dismiss a libel suit that energy company SG Interests filed against a Paonia environmental activist.

Pete Kolbenschlag, who has been active in fighting energy development in the North Fork Valley, posted a Facebook comment to a Post Independent article on SG Interests early this year after some big news came out about their nearby natural gas leases.

SG Interests is a Texas-based oil and gas company that held the majority of the leases on the Thompson Divide, which the BLM announced in November 2016 that it was canceling.

Commenting to the Post Independent’s coverage of that announcement, Kolbenschlag wrote, “While SGI alleges ‘collusion’ let us recall that it, SGI, was actually fined for colluding (with Gunnison Energy Corporation) to rig bid prices and rip off American taxpayers. Yes, these two companies owned by billionaires thought it appropriate to pad their portfolios at the expense of you and I and every other hard-working American.”

That comment prompted the energy company to file a libel lawsuit against Kolbenschlag in February.

In February 2012, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with SG Interests and Gunnison Energy Corp., which required the companies to pay $550,000 for “antitrust and False Claims Act violations.” A federal judge later rejected the settlement, then approved a new settlement of $1 million. The companies did not admit any wrongdoing.

SG Interests’ complaint claims that Kolbenschlag’s statement that these companies were fined for colluding to rig bid prices is “contrary to the true facts and reasonable people reading the assertion would be likely to think significantly less favorably about SGI than they would if they knew the true facts.”

Kolbenschlag says the lawsuit is “frivolous and without merit,” and moreover that he is being sued for making an “innocuous online comment” that others had already published in the media. He said the lawsuit is a “textbook tactic” to stifle civic engagement.

Read the full story on PostIndependent.com.