What many leftist activists describe as “free speech” ends up looking more like a license for engaging in criminal disruption and property damage. Remember the 2020 riotous Summer of Love™ with the infamous “mostly peaceful protests”? And of course today we have the wanton destruction of Teslas.

Greenpeace defended its actions as “free speech” after Energy Transfer Partners, the developer building the Dakota Access Pipeline, sued the ecoterrorist group.

In 2017, the pipeline project was effectively shut down as a bunch of climate activist protesters waged a campaign of disinformation, arson, and sabotage in their efforts to derail the completion of the pipeline project. This was in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation.

The activists, who created a makeshift camp, harassed workers, set fires, vandalized equipment, blocked roads, and killed livestock. When they were finally removed with the aid of the National Guard, they left over 21 million tons of trash that cost more than $1.1 million to clean up. So much for protecting the environment…

Despite the setbacks, ETP finally completed the pipeline, which transported crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region underground to an oil terminal in Illinois. The oil was then transported to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Yet those setbacks cost ETP some $340 million and damaged the company’s reputation.

Well, after years of litigation and a trial, a North Dakota jury ruled in ETP’s favor, granting the company a ruling of nearly $700 million in damages.

ETP targeted Greenpeace with its lawsuit, charging that it was the primary organization not only bankrolling this climate activist terrorism but also promoting it to the media. As ETP said following the verdict, “While we are pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, this win is really for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace.”

The company added, “It is also a win for all law-abiding Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law. That the disrupters have been held responsible is a win for all of us.”

As noted above, Greenpeace responded that the case was “meritless” and only served to chill free speech. “We will not back down,” Greenpeace International executive director Mads Christensen stated. “We will not be silenced.”

No one is trying to “silence” Greenpeace. The problem is that Greenpeace has resorted to non-peaceful forms of criminal action, which it dubiously conflates with speech.

However, irrespective of Christensen’s defiance, this ruling has significantly damaged Greenpeace’s presence in the U.S. According to reports, Greenpeace’s U.S. division only has roughly $40 million on hand, clearly not nearly enough to pay the judgment. So even as the ecofascist outfit appeals the ruling, its U.S. division is under genuine threat of being shuttered.

Now that would be good news for Americans. But it also raises an important question: Where do leftist climate activist organizations like Greenpeace get their money in the first place? One source may be our own government, which, thanks to DOGE, is being exposed for the American people to see.

Regarding Greenpeace, maybe this means the ruling will be a warning to other ecoterrorist groups to avoid engaging in property-damaging behavior under the guise of “free speech.”