Environmental groups being sued by the developer of the Dakota Access pipeline say the lawsuit is an attack on free speech and punishment for supporting the Lakota people who opposed the risk to their sacred waters.
Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners this week sued Greenpeace, BankTrack and Earth First, alleging they disseminated false and misleading information and damaged the company.
Damages in the case have the potential of reaching $1 billion.
Greenpeace says the lawsuit is meritless harassment and an attempt to silence free speech.
ETP says it has an obligation to its shareholders, partners and stakeholders to file the lawsuit.

A national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women is moving forward despite calls from some aboriginal groups for resignations and a reset.
Chief commissioner Marion Buller says she and her colleagues intend to go ahead with community hearings that start next month, but will do so in a better way.
Buller made the comments after a meeting in Winnipeg at which commissioners learned about Indigenous laws.
In recent months, the commission has faced questions from concerned relatives who say they have lost faith in the inquiry because it is not giving families enough of a voice.
The inquiry is expected to take two years and cost almost $54 million.

Aboriginal trade experts say the creation of an Indigenous chapter in NAFTA could be a way to address long-standing concerns about mobility of tribes across the Canada-U.S. border.
The possible contents of the chapter have been the subject of meetings this week between trade officials and the Indigenous Affairs Department.
A spokesperson for the minister says the federal government is looking at how a modernized NAFTA can better address and support the ability of Indigenous people and businesses to benefit from cross-border trade.
Kahnawake Grand Chief Joseph Norton says he is pleased Ottawa is showing an openness to bringing Indigenous leaders into the trade discussions, adding he will be looking to see the extent of their involvement.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario passed a motion at its annual meeting last week calling on all school districts in Ontario to rename schools and buildings named after Sir John A. Macdonald.
The union says it wants the name change because of what it calls Macdonald’s role as the “architect of genocide against Indigenous Peoples.”
Macdonald was prime minister during the time the federal government approved the first residential schools in the country.