The federal district court for the District of North Dakota found that Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (Energy Transfer), the operators of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), had failed to state a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim against BankTrack, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation described as using “engagement and public pressure to stop banks from financing specific projects it disagrees with.” The court found that Energy Transfer’s allegations failed to state a plausible RICO claim. The court noted that BankTrack’s individual RICO predicate conduct was limited to sending letters and posting blogs for the purpose of limiting funding for DAPL. The court said this conduct was not plausibly or reasonably related to arson and violence allegedly used by unassociated groups and individuals to stop construction of DAPL. In addition, the court found that Energy Transfer did not establish that it suffered injury caused by RICO predicate conduct, that it was a “victim” of BankTrack’s alleged fraudulently induced donations, or that allegedly defamatory communications were within the zone of interests of mail and wire fraud statutes. Because the complaint’s allegations against BankTrack were insufficient to sustain RICO claims, the court also concluded that it could not exercise personal jurisdiction over BankTrack based on nationwide RICO jurisdiction or Rule 4(k)(2). In addition, the court concluded that personal jurisdiction was not established under North Dakota’s long-arm statute.

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) action by Dakota Action Pipeline developers against Greenpeace and other organizations.

Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. v. Greenpeace International

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

North Dakota Federal Court Dismissed Dakota Access Pipeline Operators’ RICO Claims Against Dutch Foundation

Filed

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

People who are less able to respond to the effects of climate change due to having limited financial or physical assets

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People who have left their homes, whether through force, voluntarily, or a mixture of both

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Activities of businesses and institutions that provide financial services and products to individuals and organisations.

North Dakota Federal Court Dismissed Dakota Access Pipeline Operators’ RICO Claims Against Dutch Foundation

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Economic sector

Finance