Opinion ID: 4512812
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events Giving Rise to Present Action

Text: In October 2011, the Tribe learned from Skagit County government documents that Tesoro Refining & Marketing SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL CMTY. V. BNSF 13 Company, LLC, an oil company with a refinery on March Point, adjacent to Anacortes, intended to ship crude oil in 100-car “unit trains” across the Reservation every other day using BNSF trains. On October 18, 2011, the Tribe sent a letter to BNSF, Burlington Northern’s successor, reminding BNSF of its obligation to obtain written approval from the Tribe for any increases in rail traffic above the maximum level specified in the Easement Agreement. BNSF did not respond to the letter. In September 2012, the Tribe learned from a local news article that BNSF had begun to run 100-car trains across the Reservation. BNSF later admitted to running six 100-car unit trains in each direction across the Reservation every week. On September 27, 2012, the Tribe sent a letter to BNSF notifying BNSF that the increased rail traffic violated the Easement Agreement and requesting information from BNSF. BNSF responded to the Tribe almost five months later. BNSF confirmed in its answering letter that throughout 2012, it had run “locals” averaging between 27.8 and 28.5 cars six times per week between Burlington and the March Point refinery. BNSF wrote further that beginning in September 2012, it had run sixty-two additional unit trains (about one every other day) of “approximately 102 cars in each direction.” Finally, BNSF wrote that it “anticipate[d] that in the near term, unit trains may increase from four to six times weekly to as much as ten times weekly.” BNSF had not previously asked, and did not now ask, the Tribe’s permission to run its new 100-car unit trains across the Reservation. In a letter to BNSF dated November 25, 2014, the Tribe complained that BNSF had violated the Easement Agreement not only by exceeding the number of trains and rail cars, but 14 SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL CMTY. V. BNSF also by failing to report to the Tribe the particularly dangerous nature of the crude oil, from North Dakota’s Bakken formation, that was carried by the unit trains: The Tribe, like the public generally, has learned that Bakken crude oil being transported by rail—which the Tribe informally understands is being transported by rail to the Tesoro refinery on March Point—poses a potentially far greater risk to human life, health and communities than some other crude oils because of its propensity to catastrophically combust. . . . [T]he BNSF easement across the Reservation is in close physical proximity to central elements of the Tribe’s economic development infrastructure, including the Casino, Lodge, Chevron and RV park. In the fifteen-page, single-spaced letter, the Tribe described numerous recent catastrophic spills and fires in the United States and Canada resulting from derailment of trains carrying Bakken crude oil. The Tribe quoted from a report prepared by the U.S. Department of Transportation, addressing the unusual hazards of rail transportation of Bakken crude oil. According to the report: The number and type of petroleum crude oil railroad accidents described below that have occurred during the last year is startling, and the quantity of petroleum crude oil spilled as a result of those accidents is voluminous in SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL CMTY. V. BNSF 15 comparison to past precedents. Due to the volume of crude oil currently being shipped by railroads, the demonstrated recent propensity for rail accidents involving trains transporting crude oil to occur, and the subsequent releases of large quantities of crude oil into the environment and the imminent hazard those releases present, this Order requires that railroads take the action described above . . . . Releases of petroleum crude oil, subsequent fires, and environmental damage resulting from such releases represent an imminent hazard . . . presenting a substantial likelihood that death, serious illness, severe personal injury, or a substantial endangerment to health, property, or the environment may occur. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., Emergency Restriction/Prohibition Order, Docket No. DOT-OST-2014-0067, at 4 (May 7, 2014). The letter recounted two recent derailments of BNSF unit trains carrying Bakken crude. One derailment was in North Dakota. It resulted in a spill of “approximately 400,000 gallons” of crude oil and “a significant fire.” The other derailment was in Seattle. The train had been on its way to the March Point refinery and would have crossed the Swinomish Reservation. The letter acknowledged that BNSF trains travel slowly when crossing the Reservation, but noted that the train derailed in Seattle while traveling at a speed of less than five miles per hour. The Easement Agreement limits the speed of BNSF’s trains when crossing the Reservation to less than ten miles per hour. 16 SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL CMTY. V. BNSF In communications with BNSF, the Tribe repeatedly requested that BNSF abide by the Easement Agreement. BNSF consistently refused to do so. BNSF also repeatedly failed to provide annual cargo reports to the Tribe.