A Texas pipeline company's lawsuit seeking potentially hundreds of millions of dollars from Greenpeace was set to advance with opening statements Wednesday in a trial the environmental organization calls an effort to silence critics of the oil industry.

A Texas-based company claims the environmental advocacy group tried to delay construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline with protests.

Greenpeace has said that a lawsuit brought by an energy company over the Dakota Access Pipeline could wipe it out. The Texas-based company, Energy Transfer, alleges protest tactics by Greenpeace delayed the project,