Responding to Misleading Petition from STAND

This past week the fundraising advocacy group STAND began circulating a hyperbolic petition “condemning” Resolute for exercising our right to bring a civil complaint against the group in a court of law.

What the STAND petition conspicuously omits, however, is that our litigation has a completely sound basis in law.  As Washington Post legal analyst Jonathan Adler wrote about our case, “I see no reason why [RICO] can’t be used against environmentalist groups as well, particularly if some groups are deliberately fabricating evidence.”

Also unmentioned is the fact that STAND itself both initiates and supports lawsuits involving public discourse on environmental issues.  In fact their co-defendants, Greenpeace, routinely brings suit against all manner of parties, including under RICO statutes.  Greenpeace even sent libel notices to Resolute well before this current litigation ever began. NRDC, which signed STAND’s petition, has a full-time legal department that also regularly files lawsuits on environmental issues.  So apparently STAND isn’t opposed to litigating disputes over environmental advocacy – they just don’t like it when they are the defendants.

Here are some of the many news outlets and stakeholders that have praised Resolute for seeking to hold the defendants accountable:

 

“Even Resolute competitors are privately cheering on the company and we’re happy to do so publicly. For the sake of workers and shareholders everywhere, let’s hope that American executives will follow Mr. Garneau’s example.”

 

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (3/18/16)

 

“For too long, environmental activist organizations have unfairly inflicted huge economic harm on businesses by spreading misinformation and unfounded fearmongering. They are engaging in economic warfare on an international scale. An outstanding example of how unfairly-attacked companies should respond is Resolute Forest Products, the world’s largest producer of newsprint. It has courageously and boldly led the charge in fighting back through the courts. Others should follow suit.”

 

Steve Forbes Investor’s Business Daily (9/16/16)

 

“The pressure on businesses to fold in the face of environmental scare campaigns can be enormous... After Greenpeace’s long history of distortions on environmental issues, we may find out if it has any credibility left to attack.”

 

Editorial Board in The Wall Street Journal (6/19/16)

 

“Shoe, meet other foot.”

 

Glenn Reynolds in InstaPundit (6/1/16)

 

“I wish more companies had the backbone to stand up to Greenpeace’s extortion tactics. Until they do, when I need forest products, I’ll be purchasing from retailers that buy from Resolute, and I’ll advise my friends to do the same.”

 

Sterling Burnett in The Washington Times (6/26/16)

 

“How has the press allowed this deeply unethical NGO behavior to occur? Greenpeace has been wantonly deceiving the public and hoaxing the press, with zero accountability in the U.S. If any private-sector company behaved like this, there would be a deafening outcry.”

 

Brandon Phillips of the National Fisheries Institute in The Wall Street Journal (6/23/16)

 

“They’ve been claiming this is all about bullying by Resolute. But its not. It is about truth and justice and the fact that Greenpeace has been damaging Resolute’s business and destroying jobs, and that shouldn’t be allowed. It amazes me that that has been allowed to go on for so long.”

 

The Financial Post’s Peter Foster on Marita Noon (6/9/16)

 

“Resolute has just taken another bold step to defend itself against the green bully’s attacks.”

 

Marita Noon in Townhall (6/6/16)

 

“One company that has not caved in and started to appease Greenpeace in the hope of ending the harassment, is Resolute itself, led by its CEO Richard Garneau.”

 

Professor Jaana Woiceshyn in Profitable and Moral (6/5/16)

 

“Rarely if ever has a corporate executive dared to call an ENGO shakedown what it is. Richard Garneau is thus almost unique among executives. In a corporate world dripping with bogus “business ethics,” Garneau, a quiet and modest man who lives in the Boreal, has demonstrated some true moral backbone, refusing to bow to what he sees as lies and intimidation. And while his fellow corporate executives are missing in action, more and more Northern communities. aboriginal groups and unions are beginning to stand up against the anti-brand bullies.”

 

Peter Foster in Financial Post (7/22/16)

 

“I see no reason why [RICO] can’t be used against environmentalist groups as well, particularly if (as Resolute alleges) some groups are deliberately fabricating evidence as part of their media and fundraising campaigns.  This last point is important, for Resolute is not merely disputing Greenpeace’s rhetorical claims or disputing its conclusions (though it does this). Resolute also maintains that Greenpeace officials and affiliates deliberately falsified evidence (such as by doctoring photographs).”

 

Jonathan H. Adler in The Washington Post (5/31/16)

 

“By standing up to Greenpeace, Resolute Forest Products is doing the world a favor…It’s inspiring to see a business fight back against the green bullies — to protect the truth, its employees, and its customers. Victims of Greenpeace’s false attacks should shout them down, loudly, for what they are.”

 

Amy Payne in the National Review (4/20/16)

 

“Resolute can’t be blamed for doubting whether Greenpeace is really seeking solutions, or at least ones that it is prepared to live by for very long. That, after all, might hurt its fundraising.”

 

Konrad Yakabuski in The Globe and Mail (12/31/16)

 

“What I find regrettable is that often, at an international level, people will say that we’re just cutting down the forest, when in reality what we’re doing is cultivating it. It’s really a different thing.”

“Above and beyond the name of a company, you have the workers. It’s a region, it’s an entire people that they’re attacking – not just one company. “

 

Guy Larouche, Mayor, Town of Roberval & Caucus President of the Union of Quebec Municipalities

 

“I will say it over again, forest management in Québec is following the most rigorous standards in the world. … These results also demonstrate the efforts of forestry companies in Québec to manage the forests in a responsible way.

 

Laurent Lessard, Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Government Of Quebec (FSC International, High-Level International Forum on the Application of Motion 65. Nov. 30- Dec. 2)

 

“I think that the way the forest is managed, I think that it’s great.  They have a lot of open houses, they have every concept so that everybody has their say in it in regards to before it is accepted and planned and being part of it my whole life, I think they do a good job. It’s doing well.”

 

Chief Pierre Pelletier, Regional Grand Chief, Robinson-Superior Treaty Area

 

“I think the demands by Greenpeace are terrible, they are spreading misinformation and having sensationalized attacks on the forest industry and it has to stop because the customers that purchase forest products in the Canadian boreal forest are being harassed and this in turn is jeopardizing the economy in northern Ontario….To my knowledge, no one from Greenpeace has ever come to Atikokan or ever talked to us or any other environmental groups. We’re a small community and we’re there looking after the economy and the jobs and we’re very disappointed in some of the things Greenpeace are doing right now: spreading the misinformation and harassing their customers, especially the customers of Resolute. It is not right and it has to stop.”

 

Dennis Brown, Mayor, Town of Atikokan

 

“Its morally refreshing to see now that Resolute Forest Products now engaging First Nation communities as part of the solution and as being part of the whole process.  I think that its really important that industry and First Nations and government should be able to work together so that everyone benefits for the resource and even non-aboriginal communities can benefit from this activity as well.”

 

Chief Wilfred King, Gull Bay First Nation

 

“There are activists saying the Boreal Forest is in danger – which isn’t the case. They say there’s deforestation. But deforestation consists of removing trees from the ground, removing their roots, and replacing those trees with agriculture or industry…. We need to tell Greenpeace that their mission is at odds with our reality. Protecting the planet doesn’t mean putting a price on the sustainability of peoples’ livelihoods, or impoverishing communities…People in the big cities have no idea of our reality. They’re influenced by campaigns, but the science doesn’t back up what Greenpeace and others are saying…”

 

Jacques Asselin, Mayor, Town of La Doré

 

 “I’ve been in the community for 28 years. It’s hard to think of an organization or association or any business in town that hasn’t been directly impacted by Resolute or its employees or the participation of its employees and its contractors within the community. All aspects of the community have been impacted by Resolute’s presence…..in a positive way.”

 

John Lawson, Resolute Employee

 

“The activists – the image of the forest products industry that they’re trying to project is that we don’t protect the forest, that we’re cutting it down carelessly, which is totally false. We have reforestation, so that the forest returns healthier than ever. We do things properly – but that’s not the image that people get to see. “

 

David Côté, Resolute Employee

 

“We wonder who the environmental groups are really fighting for. It’s certainly not for the people who use the forest, or for those of us who live here. The discourse is being tainted with falsehoods. We have to set the record straight and assure people that we’re acting responsibly.”

 

Sylvain Goulet, General Manager of La Doré Sawmill