ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Association of American Railroads has filed suit against a group of Virginia officials, seeking to overturn a law that makes it easier for broadband companies to install lines across railroad property.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the suit was filed in U.S. District Court against the heads of the Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and State Corporation Commission. It asks that SB 1029 — passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in March — be invalidated and that the three agencies named be prohibited from taking any action authorized by the law.
The AAR lawsuit, available in full here, claims that the new law treats railroads “unlike any other landowner, seizing from them and giving to broadband service providers a permanent easement to access and occupy railroad lands.” The suit says this interferes with the railroads’ ability to safely conduct operations and disregards their right to “just compensation” for their land.
The bill establishes a $2,000 fee that broadband companies would pay to cross the property and caps at $5,000 the reimbursement they would pay a railroad for any costs incurred. The law takes effect today (July 1).
The bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Franklin), said he is confident courts will uphold the bill. He told the newspaper that the suit is disappointing but not surprising, “because the railroads engaged in bullying our Virginia broadband companies that we seeking a fair and equitable solution to this problem during the 2023 legislative session.”
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