BNSF Railway Ordered to Pay Nearly $400 Million for Trespassing with 100-Car Trains on Swinomish Tribe Land

Jun 17, 2024, 10:30 PM

BNSF Railway Co. has been ordered to pay nearly $400 million to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in Washington state. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik found that BNSF intentionally trespassed on the tribe's reservation by repeatedly running 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the territory. The court documents revealed that the company far exceeded the number of train cars it was permitted to run through the tribe's land, with a total of 266,877 railcars trespassing.