A WA tribe will get paid by a railroad that trespassed. The question is how much

A federal judge found BNSF Railway willingly, consciously and knowingly trespassed when it ran about a quarter-million cars carrying crude oil over the Swinomish Reservation beyond what was outlined in an agreement with the tribe. Now, the issue at hand is how much money the railway must pay to make it right.

BNSF has operated a rail line over the reservation under a 1991 easement agreement that permits trains to carry no more than 25 cars each direction per day. It also required BNSF to tell the tribe about the “nature and identity of all cargo” crossing the easement, which is less than a mile long.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said in a written order last year that the railway made a unilateral decision to increase the number of trains and cars crossing the reservation without the tribe’s consent from September 2012 to May 2021 “in pursuit of profits.”

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The tribe argues it should get as much as $445 million of the railway’s profits made while trespassing, while BNSF argues it should pay far lower than that.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/a-wa-tribe-will-get-paid-by-a-railroad-that-trespassed-the-question-is-how-much/