In what environmental justice groups are characterizing as legal harassment by "corporate mercenaries," the company that owns the contested Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace, Earth First!, BankTrack, and individuals who oppposed and protested the pipeline, claiming over $300 million in damages.

The "meritless lawsuit" is "not designed to seek justice, but to silence free speech through expensive, time-consuming litigation."

—Tom Wetterer, Greenpeace attorneyGreenpeace general counsel Tom Wetterer said the "meritless lawsuit" is "not designed to seek justice, but to silence free speech through expensive, time-consuming litigation."

DAPL developer Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) in a 187-page complaint (pdf), claims the groups "employ patterns of criminal activity and campaigns of misinformation to target legitimate companies and industries with fabricated environmental claims and other purported misconduct, inflicting billions of dollars in damage."

Kasowitz law firm, which is representing ETP, filed another lawsuit against Greenpeace last year, and is also reportedly representing President Donald Trump in the ongoing federal investigation into allegations that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign.

"This has now become a pattern of harassment by corporate bullies, with Trump's attorneys leading the way," Wetterer said. "They are apparently trying to market themselves as corporate mercenaries willing to abuse the legal system to silence legitimate advocacy work."

Seeking nearly $1 billion in damages, ETP accuses the environmentalists of defamation, illegal business interference, and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a federal law often used to target mobsters and that, according to the Justice Department, "was passed by Congress with the declared purpose of seeking to eradicate organized crime in the United States."

The complaint claims Greenpeace launches "fraudulent, slanderous" campaigns "based upon fabricated evidence and witness accounts," to "generate maximum publicity and donations, irrespective of the environmental merit," purporting that "raising money and the network's profile is the primary objective, not saving the environment."

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It also claims the environmental organizations—which it calls"militant eco-terrorist groups"—"knowingly funded, controlled, directed, and incited acts of terrorism," and "used this manufactured crisis to relentlessly campaign against DAPL based on a series of demonstrably false lies and illegal activity designed to publicize those lies." ETP claims their financial losses were the result of the environmentalists "targetting [ETP's] banks, investors, research analysts, and other critical business constituents."