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| Central ND News, Oct. 2024 |
'Weird' Newspaper Could Taint Jury Pool in DAPL Case, Court Told
The Strange Case of Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace and Red Warrior Society
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Dec. 13, 2024
"Red Warrior Society is still named in the lawsuit and last week our lawyers presented arguments for why it shouldn’t be (because it is not the sort of entity that can be sued). The two individuals, Cody Hall and Krystal Two Bulls, are also still named, but were never served. (Greenpeace entities are the only ones that were served and are actively litigating)," Bigda said.
Greenpeace seeks court permission to research mailer critical of DAPL protests
by Mary Steurer, North Dakota Monitor
A newspaper that mysteriously appeared in the mail boxes of Morton County residents could taint the jury pool in the upcoming case of Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace. It is the latest strange development in the case filed against Greenpeace, Red Warrior Society and water protectors over the protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Now, eight years later, Energy Transfer's $300 million lawsuit filed against Greenpeace, known as a SLAPP lawsuit to silence protesters, is slated for North Dakota Court in February. Besides all this, the pipeline has been on a fishing expedition serving the media and water protectors with third-party subpoenas to extract their information.
Central ND News, the 'weird' newspaper targeting Standing Rock Water Protectors, and promoting the Morton County Sheriff, has generic bylines called "staff reports." The funders are a conservative group promoting pipelines. It was mailed to Morton County from Chicago, Illinois.
Everett Jack, an attorney representing Greenpeace, said during a Monday afternoon hearing. “We should have the right to figure out who sent it when they did and why."
Southwest Judicial District Court Judge James Gion was asked by Greenpeace for permission to conduct discovery into the Texas-based company that printed and distributed the Central ND News.
Greenpeace wants to find out who hired the company to send the mailers, what their motivation was and whether the Central ND News was targeted explicitly at Morton County residents, according to court records, North Dakota Monitor reports.
Jack said Greenpeace is not asking for the trial to be rescheduled. However, he said if its request for discovery is granted, Greenpeace could request the case to be moved to a different court depending on what information it uncovers.
Gion did not immediately rule on the request and said he will take the matter under advisement.
The mysterious newspaper was first reported by the North Dakota News Cooperative and Floodlight. Their article says Morton County residents found the newspaper "weird."
"The Central ND News has many of the hallmarks of a legitimate news source — headlines, infographics and 12 pages of newsprint. But the newspaper mailed to residents of one North Dakota county this October were uniformly right leaning, largely lacked bylines identifying the stories’ authors and in some instances had a clear target — the Dakota Access Pipeline protests."
“When I got it, I thought, ‘Well, this is weird. Number one, it's coming from out of state. Number two, it looks like a newspaper.’ That was the big thing that was weird to me, and how much it looks like a newspaper,” said Tavi Leier, a Mandan resident who works for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.
Four other articles quote or feature U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND.)
Anonymous message to Morton County Sheriff's Department: The video footage includes two officers cursing and threatening protesters. Anonymous gave the two officers 48 hours to turn themselves in, or be exposed. Anonymous also demanded the arrest of officers who fired concussion grenades. "This is not a threat, it's a promise. We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Morton County Sheriff's Department expect us. Operation Morton County engaged."
North Dakota News Cooperative unravels the funding behind the newspaper.
"The Central ND News traces back to a partisan news network with a history of taking funding from fossil fuel interests to publish 'news' to push their agenda," North Dakota News Cooperative reports.
"Tax documents and business filings reviewed by Floodlight and The North Dakota News Cooperative show that the paper and its companion website are owned and operated by Metric Media, an Illinois-based company led by former TV reporter Brian Timpone."
"Metric is part of an eight-company network operating more than 1,100 online local news sites. Its nonprofit arm has received $1.4 million from DonorsTrust, a dark-money group that received significant funding from Charles and David Koch, who made their fortune through investments in the fossil fuel industry. Tim Dunn, the CEO of a leading Texas oil and gas company has held a managerial role in the network."
Now, eight years later, Energy Transfer's $300 million lawsuit filed against Greenpeace, known as a SLAPP lawsuit to silence protesters, is slated for North Dakota Court in February. Besides all this, the pipeline has been on a fishing expedition serving the media and water protectors with third-party subpoenas to extract their information.
Central ND News, the 'weird' newspaper targeting Standing Rock Water Protectors, and promoting the Morton County Sheriff, has generic bylines called "staff reports." The funders are a conservative group promoting pipelines. It was mailed to Morton County from Chicago, Illinois.
Everett Jack, an attorney representing Greenpeace, said during a Monday afternoon hearing. “We should have the right to figure out who sent it when they did and why."
Southwest Judicial District Court Judge James Gion was asked by Greenpeace for permission to conduct discovery into the Texas-based company that printed and distributed the Central ND News.
Greenpeace wants to find out who hired the company to send the mailers, what their motivation was and whether the Central ND News was targeted explicitly at Morton County residents, according to court records, North Dakota Monitor reports.
Jack said Greenpeace is not asking for the trial to be rescheduled. However, he said if its request for discovery is granted, Greenpeace could request the case to be moved to a different court depending on what information it uncovers.
Gion did not immediately rule on the request and said he will take the matter under advisement.
The mysterious newspaper was first reported by the North Dakota News Cooperative and Floodlight. Their article says Morton County residents found the newspaper "weird."
"The Central ND News has many of the hallmarks of a legitimate news source — headlines, infographics and 12 pages of newsprint. But the newspaper mailed to residents of one North Dakota county this October were uniformly right leaning, largely lacked bylines identifying the stories’ authors and in some instances had a clear target — the Dakota Access Pipeline protests."
“When I got it, I thought, ‘Well, this is weird. Number one, it's coming from out of state. Number two, it looks like a newspaper.’ That was the big thing that was weird to me, and how much it looks like a newspaper,” said Tavi Leier, a Mandan resident who works for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives.
Four other articles quote or feature U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND.)
The Central ND News online edition on Dec. 12 focuses on the doxing of law enforcement. The article says that in late 2016, protesters began to publicly release personal information of officers, including names, birth dates, and home addresses.
The article refers to this video by Anonymous.
The Central ND News online on Dec. 9 continues its theme of promoting Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, and attempts to criminalize water protectors.
North Dakota News Cooperative unravels the funding behind the newspaper.
"Tax documents and business filings reviewed by Floodlight and The North Dakota News Cooperative show that the paper and its companion website are owned and operated by Metric Media, an Illinois-based company led by former TV reporter Brian Timpone."
"Metric is part of an eight-company network operating more than 1,100 online local news sites. Its nonprofit arm has received $1.4 million from DonorsTrust, a dark-money group that received significant funding from Charles and David Koch, who made their fortune through investments in the fossil fuel industry. Tim Dunn, the CEO of a leading Texas oil and gas company has held a managerial role in the network."
Unicorn Riot back in court protecting its records
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| Unicorn Riot media's coverage of Standing Rock includes frontline and in-depth coverage, including: 'DAPL Security Leak Shows Coordinated Surveillance and Repression of Water Protectors.' https://unicornriot.ninja/2017/dapl-security-leak-shows-coordinated-surveillance-repression-water-protectors/ |
Meanwhile, Unicorn Riot media, based in Minnesota, was again in court this week to protect its internal communications at Standing Rock from Energy Transfer's upcoming case in North Dakota.
ACLU attorneys said the case now before the Minnesota Supreme Court involves the Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act, a shield law protecting news gatherers from compelled disclosure of unpublished information. It is in response to a subpoena filed by Energy Transfer seeking Unicorn Riot's communications and data.
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| Photo courtesy Red Warrior Camp |
Red Warrior Society Targeted
Red Warrior Society and other water protectors are named in Energy Transfer's lawsuit, Greenpeace told Censored News in August 2024.
Red Warrior Society and other water protectors are named in Energy Transfer's lawsuit, Greenpeace told Censored News in August 2024.
"Originally, our trial was set for July 29th, 2024 – but due to a massive document dump by Energy Transfer in June, Greenpeace filed a request to have the trial date pushed back. The judge agreed, and moved our trial to February 24, 2025 through March 28, 2025," Lindsay Bigda, communication director, Democracy Resilience Program at Greenpeace USA told Censored News.
"Red Warrior Society is still named in the lawsuit and last week our lawyers presented arguments for why it shouldn’t be (because it is not the sort of entity that can be sued). The two individuals, Cody Hall and Krystal Two Bulls, are also still named, but were never served. (Greenpeace entities are the only ones that were served and are actively litigating)," Bigda said.
During a hearing, attorneys for Greenpeace asked the North Dakota judge to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in Morton County District Court in North Dakota State Court in 2019.
Steven Caplow, representing Greenpeace, asked the judge to dismiss this part of the claim because the Red Warrior Society is not a legal entity.
“You can’t conspire with the Red Warrior Society, because it doesn’t exist,” Caplow told North Dakota Southwest District Judge James Gion during the hearing, North Dakota Monitor reports.
Read more:
by Mary Steurer, North Dakota Monitor
'Weird' newspaper calls out pipeline protests eight years later
by Michael Standaert, North Dakota News Cooperative
ACLU: Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace International, Unicorn Riot, et al
Columbia Journalism Review: "Pink Slime' ground breaking report on newspaper funding by oil and gas industry (2022)
Energy Transfer v. Greenpeace and Red Warrior Society: Energy Transfer Dumps Load of Documents in Case
Censored News (August 2024)
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