An attorney for a Texas pipeline company said Wednesday that he will prove various Greenpeace entities coordinated delays and disruptions of a controversial oil pipeline's construction in North Dakota,

A Texas pipeline company's lawsuit accusing Greenpeace of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline goes to trial in North Dakota on Monday, in a case the environmental advocacy organization says threatens free speech rights and its very future.

A Texas pipeline company has sued Greenpeace accusing the organization of defamation, disruptions and attacks during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline

The trial in North Dakota that observers are describing as a key free speech rights case has begun. Energy Transfer, a Texas-based company and the operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline, is suing Greenpeace for alleged defamation and what their lawyers describe as a “campaign of violence.