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Swinomish Tribe awarded $400 million in BNSF trespassing case

This photo provided by the Washington Department of Ecology shows a derailed BNSF train on the Swinomish tribal reservation near Anacortes, Wash. on March 16, 2023. A federal judge on Monday, June 17, 2024 ordered BNSF Railway to pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across its reservation. (Washington Department of Ecology via AP) Photo: Associated Press, Saga Communications


ANACORTES, WA (AP) – BNSF Railway has been ordered to pay a PNW tribe for intentionally trespassing on their territory.

A federal judge ordered BNSF to pay nearly $400 million to the Swinomish Tribe after finding that the company repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation.

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik initially ruled last year that the railway deliberately violated the terms of a 1991 easement that allows trains to carry no more than 25 cars per day.

The judge held a trial earlier this month to determine how much in profits BNSF made through trespassing and how much it should be required to disgorge.

The tribe sued in 2015 after BNSF dramatically increased – without the tribe’s consent – the number of cars it was running across the reservation.

The route crosses sensitive marine ecosystems along the coast, over water that connects with the Salish Sea, where the tribe has treaty-protected rights to fish.

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