After years of aggressively opposing expanded fossil fuel production and advocating for Green New Deal policies, Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee — dispatched a campaign spokesperson to say the California Democrat will no longer support a fracking ban.
It’s the sort of reversal likely to inspire backlash from prominent environmental groups like Greenpeace. But that organization is currently distracted by turmoil within its own leadership.
At Greenpeace USA, Ebony Twilley Martin, the organization’s first ever woman of color to serve as solo executive director is out, embroiled in an internal leadership struggle over the organization’s handling of a lawsuit.
In a statement to InsideSources, Liz Gilchrist, Board Chair of Greenpeace Fund, and Jakada Imani, Board Chair of Greenpeace Inc., say Twilley Martin “has transitioned from her role as executive director of the Greenpeace organizations in the U.S.
“We want to express our deep gratitude to Ebony for her years of dedicated service to Greenpeace. Her leadership has been instrumental in achieving significant milestones, such as embedding justice and equity in our global network, securing our first union contract, and ensuring the stability of Greenpeace USA during the pandemic.”
But according to E &E News, which first reported Twilley Martin’s ouster, the Greenpeace executive director had been on leave since June 13 as the organization’s leadership battled over the best response to a lawsuit over its involvement in a pipeline protest.
“It’s a leadership breakdown, basically. A full-on implosion,” the report quotes one Greenpeace staffer as saying.
At issue is a $300 million lawsuit filed by Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer (ET) attempting to hold the environmental group responsible for its role in delaying the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
“Our boards have asked Rolf Skar and Deepa Padmanabha to lead the Greenpeace organizations as acting co-executive directors over the short term until an interim executive is named,” Gilchrist and Imani said.
Padmanabha is Deputy General Counsel for Greenpeace USA and has been with the group since 2011. “She led our fight in the Resolute Forest Products lawsuit victory for eight years and continues to shape our legal strategy on issues that impact frontline and fenceline communities,” according to the statement.
Her prominent new role is a sign that Greenpeace is very concerned about the ET lawsuit and wants to go in a new direction.
The lawsuit accuses Greenpeace of engaging in trespassing, vandalism, arson, harassment and assault of construction workers, and coordinating with at least one other environmental activist group in order to halt construction. Greenpeace is also accused of inciting riots by DAPL protesters. There have been multiple incidents of protests at the pipeline that resulted in arrests.
Ashley Johnson, an attorney representing Energy Transfer, claims the pipeline company has records showing Greenpeace claiming responsibility for delaying DAPL as well as admitting to having a hand in illegal protest activity.
The stakes are high in the lawsuit case, Greenpeace says. “A loss in this trial could threaten to put Greenpeace on the sidelines of the fight for climate justice right at the moment when we need to fight even harder for a green and peaceful future.”
According to the E&E report, Twilley Martin was proposing a settlement. Not long after, she was placed on leave. Now she’s out, and Greenpeace is back in court asking a judge to throw out the DAPL lawsuit.
Its attorneys argued ET had no grounds to demand monetary compensation because there is no evidence the pipeline company was harmed by Greenpeace’s actions.
ET attorney Gregg Costa disagrees.
“They thought the pipeline was evil,” Costa said. “There are mountains of evidence showing that.”
At one point in 2016, protesters broke through security at a pipeline worksite, according to a report by the local sheriff’s office. “Several security officers reported being attacked by protesters during the confrontation,” according to the report.
Now Greenpeace has to contend with an ongoing court fight and a lack of leadership at the same time a presidential campaign is waged with climate policy as a major issue.
Democrats are counting on the climate issue to energize young voters as they attempt to hold the White House in November. President Joe Biden had an aggressive pro-green energy policy of his own, including shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office. But Harris’ energy policy is viewed as to the left of Biden’s. So far left, in fact, that her campaign has already announced she’s abandoning her pledge to ban fracking.
Assuming Harris continues to tack to the center on energy policy, she will need more support from environmental groups like Greenpeace to keep their ranks motivated, even as she makes compromises to keep more moderate voters on board.
Chaos inside Greenpeace leadership isn’t helpful.
