I'm Sarah Lee, and this is the Influence Watch podcast.

We're taking the week off, guys, but we will be back next week with new content.

For this week, however, we're going to repost a previous podcast on the Greenpeace lawsuit over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

And there's been a break in the case.

Originally, energy transfer was awarded over 660 million in damages and a lawsuit against Greenpeace for protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. And recently that award was reduced to 345 million, and Greenpeace is appealing that verdict. So this week, we are going to re-up our first podcast, which happened in April of 2025,

which was the podcast where we interviewed James Meggs,

a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, to discuss the lawsuit.

That's episode 361.

So we're just going to re-up that one for you now and give it a listen, and we'll be back next week.

Hello, I'm Michael Watson, joined by Sarah Lee, and this is the Influence Watch podcast.

It can seem infuriating. Leftist demonstrators wantonly violate the law only to face no or negligible consequences

because the powers that be either support or refuse to oppose their disruptive tactics.

But as a famous progressive politician was fond of saying,

The Ark of History is long, but it bends toward justice.

Last month, a North Dakota jury awarded energy transfer,

the company building the Dakota Access

Pipeline, $667 million in justice, holding that Greenpeace USA had defamed the company

during demonstrations against the pipeline. Joining us to discuss the protests, the verdict,

and what it might mean for leftist activism going forward is James Mags, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

James, thanks for joining us. Could you tell us a little bit about your background before we begin?

Yeah, I am a journalist who's spent much of my career covering technology and the issues of the intersection of technology and social issues. I've been working with the

Manhattan Institute and City Journal for about eight or nine years. And before that, I was the

...