Greenpeace files an anti-intimidation case against an American fossil fuel pipeline company

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Greenpeace filed an anti-intimidation court case against a U.S. energy company suing the environmental organization for hundreds of millions, testing for the first time a new European Union directive to counter manifestly unfounded cases aimed at harassing civil society.

The European Commission brought in extraterritorial safeguards to curb SLAPPS, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, last year.

Fossil fuel pipeline company Energy Transfer is suing Greenpeace for $300 million in North Dakota for organizing 2016 protests near the Standing Rock Reservation. Environmental groups and American Indian tribes staged large-scale protests over concerns about a possible oil spill polluting the tribe’s water supply.

Amsterdam-based Greenpeace filed the suit on Monday and now wants a Dutch court to force Energy Transfer to pay compensation for ongoing proceedings over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“Greenpeace is fighting off a devastating lawsuit that is aimed at preventing us and other civil society organizations from doing their work,” the group’s legal counsel Daniel Simons told The Associated Press.

The new rules, which came into effect last year, would allow courts in the 27 member states to block enforcement of SLAPP lawsuits outside of the bloc and order companies to pay compensation for legal fees.

Greenpeace has asked the Amsterdam District Court to declare the U.S. proceedings as a SLAPP and for Energy Transfer to make a public statement to that effect, as well as pay damages.

Energy Transfer will now be given until July to respond to the suit.