After nearly two years of legal battling — and some very large legal bills — The Intercept just got a favorable ruling that brings us closer than ever to getting the truth about the brutal crackdown on protests against the Dakota Access pipeline led by the Standing Rock Sioux.
The North Dakota Supreme Court just unanimously ruled that 60,000 pages of documents about pipeline company Energy Transfer and its private security firm, TigerSwan, are subject to the state’s open records laws.
But Energy Transfer won’t admit defeat.
With nearly unlimited resources, the oil giant is committed to exhausting every possible appeal. It’s continuing to expend enormous legal efforts to prevent the release of these records — and driving up our costs well into the six figures.
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When members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe led protests against the 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access pipeline, the crackdown was ruthless.
Pipeline owner Energy Transfer hired TigerSwan, a private security firm led by a former commander of the elite Army unit Delta Force. That firm conducted aerial surveillance, monitored communications, infiltrated activist circles, and coordinated with law enforcement agencies.
The Intercept sued under state open records laws to gain access to thousands of pages of documents that could shed light on TigerSwan’s activities, but Energy Transfer’s lawyers have fought us every step of the way.
As an oil pipeline company, Energy Transfer has far deeper pockets than we do. It hired Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, a law firm known for aggressive tactics and founded by one of former President Donald Trump’s longtime attorneys.
As far as we’ve come, we know that this final phase of the legal battle won’t be cheap or easy.
