ENVIRONMENTAL group Greenpeace International was ordered to pay more than $660 million (£509m) in damages to a pipeline company by a US court on Wednesday.

The claim, by Dallas-based Energy Transfer and subsidiary Dakota Access, relates to protests against construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota.

The company accused the Netherlands-based campaigners, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Incorporated of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts. 

Greenpeace USA was found liable for all counts, while the others were found liable for some. The damages owed will be spread out in different amounts over the three entities.

Greenpeace said earlier that a large award to the pipeline company would threaten to bankrupt the organisation. 

Following the nine-person jury’s verdict, Greenpeace’s senior legal advisor said the group’s work “is never going to stop.”

“That’s the really important message today and we’re just walking out and we’re going to get together and figure out what our next steps are,” Deepa Padmanabha told reporters outside the courthouse.

The organisation later said it plans to appeal the decision.

“The fight against Big Oil is not over today,” Greenpeace International General Counsel Kristin Casper said. 

The jury found Greenpeace USA must pay the bulk of the damages, nearly $404m (£311m), while Greenpeace Fund Inc and Greenpeace International would each pay roughly $131m (around £101m).

Energy Transfer called Wednesday’s verdict a “win” for “Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law.”

The case reaches back to protests in 2016 and 2017 against the Dakota Access Pipeline and its Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. 

For years the tribe has opposed the line as a risk to its water supply.
The multi-state pipeline transports about 5 per cent of the US’s daily oil production. 

It started transporting oil in mid-2017.