A federal judge has ordered BNSF Railway to pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state for intentionally trespassing on their reservation. The ruling comes after the company violated the terms of a 1991 easement with the Swinomish Tribe by running 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the reservation, exceeding the agreed limit of 25 cars per day.
The tribe filed a lawsuit in 2015 when BNSF unilaterally increased the number of train cars transporting Bakken crude oil without their consent. The route traverses sensitive marine ecosystems along the coast, posing a threat to the Salish Sea, where the tribe holds treaty-protected fishing rights.
