A Texas railroad company has been ordered to pay the Swinomish Indian Tribe nearly $400 million for unauthorized shipments of crude oil through its reservation in Washington state. An American court decided this on Monday in Seattle. The tribe had already been proven right in an earlier ruling. The question now was how much money the company had made from the transports and how much money it should hand over to the tribe.
The responsible judge explained that it was unclear how the company had invested its unlawful profits and what proceeds resulted from them. He assumes that those responsible would have made much more profit from their misconduct – but given the amount of reparations that have now been calculated, he does not expect an even larger amount.
The railway company did not keep the agreement
According to the Seattle Times newspaper, the company has been using rail lines that run through tribal areas since 1991, with the permission of the Swinomish. According to the agreement, no more than 25 wagons may be transported per day. In addition, the Swinomish must be informed of the nature of the cargo. The tribe sued in 2015 after the company sent significantly more rail cars loaded with crude oil to nearby refineries without getting specific freight or quantity approval.
The Swinomish tribal area is located on the Pacific coast of the northwestern United States. Fishing is of great cultural and economic importance to the community. Last year, thousands of gallons of diesel fuel were released into the environment when two locomotives derailed in the reserve.
Source: Krone
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