"A federal judge will decide whether to allow a lawsuit to move forward alleging two major chemical companies, Dow and Sasol North America, used a private security firm to spy on environmental groups in Louisiana and Washington, D.C.

The suit, filed by Greenpeace, alleges that the two chemical companies, along with PR firms Dezenhall Resources and Ketchum, worked with a now defunct security firm consisting of former Secret Service agents to collect material about the environmental group, including digging up documents from garbage and recycling bins and planting a volunteer in Greenpeace's Washington, D.C., office.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that the companies were involved in racketeering to discourage or disrupt the environmental group's work.

Most of the activity occurred between 1998 and 2000, but wasn't discovered until a 2008 article by the magazine Mother Jones, according to the suit."

Bruce Alpert reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune April 28, 2011. [2]