Judge rules BNSF intentionally violated terms of easement with Swinomish tribe

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

BNSF intentionally violated the terms of an easement agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community when the railway company ran thousands of 100-car trains carrying crude oil over the reservation, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The ruling in the civil case comes after two BNSF engines derailed March 16 on Swinomish land, leaking an estimated 3,100 gallons of diesel near Padilla Bay.

BNSF has operated a rail line over the Swinomish Reservation under a 1991 easement agreement that permits trains traveling in each direction to carry no more than 25 cars per day. It also required BNSF to tell the tribe about the “nature and identity of all cargo” transported across the reservation.

In a written order Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said the railway made a unilateral decision in increasing the number of trains and cars crossing the reservation without the tribe’s consent. Lasnik ruled that BNSF willfully, consciously and knowingly exceeded the limitations on its right of access from September 2012 to May 2021 “in pursuit of profits.”

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/judge-rules-bnsf-intentionally-violated-terms-of-easement-with-swinomish-tribe/

[LoisB]

1. Still breaking treaties.

[orthoclad]

2. Oiligarchs and Indians

They'll keep appealing until forever, or the Extreme Court, whichever comes first.
They can always pay a token cost-of-doing-business fine, which will be a small fraction of their profits. Even cheaper than appealing.

Meanwhile, a little description of what these gigantic, unregulated trains carry:

"Bakken oil is a type of crude that is easier to refine into the fuels sold at the pump — and ignites more easily. After tank cars carrying Bakken crude oil exploded in Alabama, North Dakota and Quebec, a federal agency warned in 2014 that the oil has a higher degree of volatility than other crudes in the U.S." -- from the link

47 people were incinerated in Quebec when one of these bomb trains went off. In some cases, no remains were found. Vaporized. That was almost ten years ago, and now regulation is even more lax.

Money talks. Justice walks.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. It used to be most oil was sent to that refinery by tanker from Alaska

The refined product was then shipped out by rail.

Since we're now using Bakken oil it's shipped in by rail thus increasing the rail traffic.

[orthoclad]

4. Municipalities

around the US have been trying to ban bomb trains. It's easier to run them through economically and politically weaker communities.
Bakken oil is chemically different. It has a high vapor pressure of propane, making it explosive.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/protect-your-community-bomb-trains
https://www.riverkeeper.org/blogs/clean-energy/bomb-trains-and-their-devastating-effects/
https://www.desmog.com/oil-rail-following-bomb-trains/
for just a few links.