DAPL protest (Morton Co. Sheriff)

DICKINSON, N.D. ( North Dakota Monitor ) — A North Dakota judge has nearly halved the $660 million sum Greenpeace was ordered to pay the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline in March.

A nine-person jury had found the environmental group at fault for harming Energy Transfer during anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017, as well as for publishing false statements to harm the company’s reputation.

The jury’s award included more than $200 million of compensatory damages — money to address financial harms — plus about $400 million in punitive damages.

In a Wednesday order, Southwest Judicial District Judge James Gion reduced the award after finding some of the jury’s damages had no legal basis, were duplicative or had exceeded statutor

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