Nat'l eye on eminent domain case

ATLANTA - A hearing began here Nov. 27 Monday in an eminent domain battle that involves one of rural Georgia's poorest areas but could have implications for property law across the state and nation. 

At stake is determining whether the Sandersville Railroad, which is owned by the prominent Tarbutton family. RR President Ben Tarbutton III is a past chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and University System of Georgia Board of Regents. His family has owned the railroad for more than a century.

The case is based on whether the railroad can legally condemn property to build a rail line 4.5 miles of track to serve a rock quarry and possibly other industries. 

A hearing officer will take up to three days of testimony before making a recommendation to the Georgia Public Service Commission's five elected members, who will ultimately decide.

The RR line would connect to the CSX railroad at Sparta, allowing products to be shipped widely. Sparta is about 85 miles SE of Atlanta. 

People in the rural neighborhood don't want a train track passing through or near their property because they think it would enable expansion at a quarry owned by Heidelberg Materials, a publicly traded German firm. 

Some residents already dislike the quarry because it generates noise, dust and truck traffic. Supporters say if the line is built, the quarry will move its operation away from those houses, and that trains will reduce truck traffic. 

But owners say losing a 200-foot-wide strip of property to the railroad would spoil land they treasure for its peace and quiet, hunting, fishing and family heritage.

Opponents have high-powered allies, including the Institute for Justice, which hopes to use the case to chip away at eminent domain, the government power to legally take private land while paying fair compensation. 

The legal group was on the losing side of a landmark 2005 case allowing the city of New London, Connecticut, to take land from one private owner and transfer it to another private owner in the name of economic development. The decision set off a widespread reaction, including more than 20 states passing laws to restrict eminent domain. 

Railroads have long had the power of eminent domain, but Georgia law says such land seizures must be for “public use." 

The case matters because private entities need to condemn private land not only to build railroads, but also to build pipelines and electric transmission lines. 

“Railroads in America are private companies operating in the public interest," Tarbutton testified.

In earlier testimony, he said the Institute for Justice is engaged in “transparent efforts to change federal and state constitutional law regarding condemnation.” 

Others who live nearby, organized as the No Railroad In Our Community Coalition, are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (The Ap 11/27/23)

Rejected Louisiana Legislature bill: June 23, 2023

Rep. Robby Carter (D-Amite) had a host of bills related to carbon capture rejected. One of his proposals, House Bill 10, would have removed the eminent domain authority of carbon storage facility operators, which could force landowners to give up property for the construction of pipelines. It was involuntarily deferred in the House Committee on Natural Resources. (Louisiana Illuminator 06/23/23)

Recently, in Ocean Springs, Miss., the town declared multi-generational homes in a historic Black neighborhood "blighted" as a pretext to seize them through eminent domain, a new lawsuit claims.

The Institute for Justice filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in October 2023 on behalf of several residents of Ocean Springs, who say the town abused Mississippi's urban renewal laws to brand their close-knit neighborhood, where generations of families have lived, a blighted slum. (Reason.com 10/13/23)