BNSF to pay fine of $400M to tribe

SEATTLE — BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it 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 with the Swinomish Tribe north of Seattle that allows trains to carry no more than 25 cars a 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 train cars. — Associated Press