(The Associated Press circulated the following on May 24.)
PHOENIX, Ariz. — A bill nearing a final vote in the Arizona Legislature could jeopardize a major railroad expansion project and possibly deter Union Pacific from considering use of its tracks for commuter rail service between Phoenix and Tucson, a Union Pacific representative said Thursday.
Despite concerns voiced by representatives of Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific and another major railroad – Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe – a House committee recommended Thursday that the full House approve a bill to require new state regulatory oversight of railroad land acquisitions involving auctions of state trust land or use or threatened use of eminent domain.
The burdens imposed by the bill would delay a new rail yard planned near Picacho between Phoenix and Tucson along Union Pacific’s “Sunset Route” main line and possibly even kill the project needed to help serve Arizona’s growing reliance on the railroad, said Chris Peterson, UP’s government relations director.
And it could make Union Pacific reluctant to allow commuter rail service on its tracks because the bill’s requirements for new oversight could make it harder to expand the railroad’s existing train-moving capacity on the main line and the existing spur to the Phoenix area, Peterson said in response to a lawmaker’s question.
“It would really depend on how this bill plays out and the extent to which it drags out infrastructure projects and makes them more costly and causes us to reconsider whether those projects are even worthwhile,” Peterson said.
“It could have some impact on our computer rail discussion with the state,” he added, stressing that those talks so far have been very preliminary.
With congestion frequently slowing auto and truck traffic on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson, Gov. Janet Napolitano and some lawmakers have suggested that the state consider new passenger rail service between the state’s two biggest urban areas. The state Department of Transportation is conducting a study.
The bill (HB 2020), already approved by the Senate, would require that railroads obtaining private land through eminent domain or trust land through auctions go through a new review process by the state Corporation Commission. The railroads would have to hire experts to brief the commission on economic, natural resource, water and other possible impacts and to allow the commission to suggest alternatives.
Supporters of the bill, who include agricultural groups and property owners, argued that railroads now are largely unfettered with little oversight by the federal Surface Transportation Board.
” I believe that local people … should at least get a fair hearing on what the federal government plans with their land through the railroad,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Jonathan Paton of Tucson. “If you believe in property rights and states’ rights, you should believe in this bill.”
The bill previously would have required a railroad to get permission from the commission, but the Senate downgraded that to only require a review. Union Pacific had objected that the requirement to obtain state approval conflicted with federal law giving exclusive authority to the federal board to approve railroad projects.
Paton and Union Pacific’s Peterson disagreed on whether the Senate’s change remedied any conflict with federal law.
Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, expressed some reluctance to engage in a court fight over the pre-emption issue but said there are “major issues” of property and states’ rights at stake.