Port: Keep the Greenpeace trial in Morton County

InForum. Rob Port, March 4, 2025.

MINOT — A monumental civil trial pitting Energy Transfer Partners, the folks behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, against Greenpeace, a left-wing political organization, kicked off last week in a Morton County courtroom.

The lawyers representing Greenpeace have asked the state Supreme Court to move the trial out of Morton County, and why wouldn’t they? That jurisdiction covers the bulk of the area that was brutalized by the violent left-wing protests against the pipeline. It was the Morton County Sheriff’s Office that was the bulwark against extremist political activists suffering overtly lopsided coverage from national news outlets (and many, many activists declaring themselves “journalists”) that parachuted into south central North Dakota and committed themselves to telling one side of the story.

Ironically, in their filings with the court, Greenpeace makes this precise point. “Residents of Morton County are not just familiar with the protests — they lived through them,” attorneys for the group argued.

It’s nice to see one of the left-wing backers of the protests finally (if tacitly) acknowledge the truth, which is that the protests were awful.

Read the full piece here: InForum.