Company faces suit for cutting underground fiber optic line

The Iowa Attorney General is suing a central Iowa company for failing to make a mandatory call to locate underground utilities before digging. Bob Brammer, a spokesman for the A-G’s office, says they allege a trenching company digging in rural Marshal County failed to call and cut a Qwest communications line. Brammer says they’re asking for a penalty against the Casey Crawford Trenching company of State Center, and an injunction to keep the company from committing another violation.He says this is the first time they’ve taken action in which a communications line was damaged. All the other actions have come when a liquid pipeline carrying natural case or other material was damaged. Brammer says while the cut phone line didn’t pose an explosion hazard, it did cut off 9-1-1 service in several counties and interrupted service for over 16-thousand phone lines. Brammer says the company could face a fine of up to one-thousand dollars. He says the company could also face civil action from the phone company.