BNSF ordered by judge to pay Swinomish Tribe nearly $400 million over trespassing

The route crosses sensitive marine ecosystems along the coast, over water that connects with the Salish Sea.

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 per day. The judge held a trial earlier this month to

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