September, 12 2022, 12:41pm EDT
As Climate Crisis Intensifies, Fossil Fuel Companies Seek to Silence their Critics
WASHINGTON
New research released by EarthRights International today reveals that the fossil fuel industry has targeted more than 150 environmental activists and community leaders with lawsuits and other forms of judicial intimidation over the past ten years. The Fossil Fuel Industry's Use of SLAPPs and Judicial Harassment in the United States shows that as public concern for the climate crisis grows, fossil fuel companies have used the legal system to threaten the First Amendment rights of those who speak out against its practices. The analysis is the first to quantify the fossil fuel industry's abuse of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and offer steps for policymakers, civil society, and the private sector to take to end the use of these and other judicial abuses.
"The fossil fuel industry has responded to growing public concern about climate change by retaliating against those who challenge its practices," said EarthRights Senior Policy Advisor Kirk Herbertson, the author of the report. "We cannot let the oil, gas, and mining industries weaponize the legal system to silence their critics. We must adopt anti-SLAPP laws to ensure that all Americans can effectively exercise their First Amendment rights."
The term SLAPP refers to a lawsuit that intends to silence or punish those who use their constitutionally protected rights to speak up about a matter of public concern. SLAPPs and other forms of judicial intimidation are part of a broader global trend of governments and corporations acting to close civic space and silence activists. Those who speak up about environmental, land, and Indigenous rights face higher levels of violence than any other group. In many countries, well-connected business leaders and politicians order attacks and assassinations of their critics with impunity.
Last year, the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and its Tributaries (FENAMAD), a partner of EarthRights in Peru, was the target of a SLAPP after it denounced illegal logging in the Amazon. In 2017, Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, sued nonprofit organizations and individual water protectors, including EarthRights client Krystal Two Bulls, for supporting the Standing Rock protests. The company demanded $900 million in damages under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The company's chief executive admitted the objective of the suit was not to obtain monetary damages but to "send a message" about protests like Standing Rock.
Additionally, fossil fuel companies have lobbied for anti-protest laws that impose stricter penalties on protesters. Some laws have turned minor offenses such as trespassing on private property into felonies if they occur near oil and gas facilities which are defined as "critical infrastructure." To date, 17 states have passed such measures into law.
SLAPPs can impose devastating consequences on their victims, draining them financially and emotionally and discouraging them from exercising their rights to free speech. Many SLAPP victims choose to end their advocacy rather than endure litigation. They may reach settlement agreements with their attackers, signing away their First Amendment rights.
To uphold the right of Americans to exercise their right to free speech and preserve our democracy, EarthRights recommends that:
- Congress and state legislatures adopt strong anti-SLAPP laws that cover all federal and state courts.
- Civil society and media organizations provide support for at-risk people and organizations before attacks occur.
- Trial lawyers' associations engage actively in anti-SLAPP legislative efforts to ensure a balanced approach between plaintiffs' and defendants' rights.
- Courts and bar associations discipline lawyers who file SLAPP suits.
- Federal judicial conferences and state judicial oversight bodies sanction those who use abusive subpoenas.
- Companies adopt policies of non-retaliation against their critics.
- Federal and state law enforcement agencies stop equating protestors with terrorists.
- The federal government places conditions on the forms of support it grants to the fossil fuel industry.
EarthRights International (ERI) is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment, which we define as "earth rights." We specialize in fact-finding, legal actions against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, training grassroots and community leaders, and advocacy campaigns. Through these strategies, EarthRights International seeks to end earth rights abuses, to provide real solutions for real people, and to promote and protect human rights and the environment in the communities where we work.
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Amid global calls for a ban on deep-sea mining to protect marine ecosystems, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to advance the risky practice and "restore American dominance in offshore critical minerals and resources."
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"Authorizing deep-sea mining outside international law is like lighting a match in a room full of dynamite—it threatens ecosystems, global cooperation, and U.S. credibility all at once."
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No exaggeration, deep sea mining could cause the massive collapse of the entire deep sea ecosystem and food chain. This is an existential risk to every person on this planet. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/c...
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) April 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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He highlighted that "NOAA is already being threatened by this administration's unprecedented cuts. NOAA is the eyes and ears for our water and air. NOAA provides Americans with accessible and accurate weather forecasts; it tracks hurricanes and tsunamis; it responds to oil spills; it keeps seafood on the table; and so much more. Forcing the agency to carry out deep-sea mining permitting while these essential services are slashed will only harm our ocean and our country."
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As The New York Timesreported:
The executive order could pave the way for the Metals Company, a prominent seabed mining company, to receive an expedited permit from NOAA to actively mine for the first time. The publicly traded company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, disclosed in March that it would ask the Trump administration through a U.S. subsidiary for approval to mine in international waters. The company has already spent more than $500 million doing exploratory work.
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Casson stressed that "states, civil society, scientists, companies, and Indigenous communities continue to resist these efforts. Having tried and failed to pressure the international community to meet their demands, this reckless announcement is a slap in the face to international cooperation."
Less than a week later, the Norwegian deep-sea mining company Loke Marine Minerals declared bankruptcy—which Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle, a campaigner for Greenpeace Nordic, noted came "on the same day that we shut down a deep-sea mining conference in Bergen."
The Norwegian government in December halted plans to move forward with deep-sea mining in the Arctic Ocean, which Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, had called "a testament to the power of principled, courageous political action, and... a moment to celebrate for environmental advocates, ocean ecosystems, and future generations alike."
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