GreenpeaceCourtesy of Greenpeace via Flickr

That either group was on such a list in the first place is troublesome in itself. Regardless, the U.S. Justice Department announced today that activists from both PETA and Greenpeace, as well as other groups, had been “improperly” monitored in the years following the September 11th attacks. Members and activists were placed on the FBI’s Terrorist Watch List for “factually weak” reasons between 2001 and 2006, a new report reveals. And the kicker is, the agency never found any evidence that either group was planning anything other than nonviolent protest.

Help Grist raise $25,000 by September 30 to further advance our climate reporting

The Washington Post reports that the “FBI improperly opened and extended investigations of some U.S. activist groups and put members of an environmental advocacy organization on a terrorist watch list, even though they were planning nonviolent civil disobedience, the Justice Department said Monday.”

See the full story from our friends at Treehugger.