Hi {contact.email_greeting},

SB 686 would allow coal companies to longwall mine with approval from ONLY 75% of the co-tenants, or people who share ownership of the coal underlying the surface. This bill would allow more people’s homes and properties to be damaged or destroyed by longwall coal mine subsidence with too little or no compensation because it lacks the surface owner protections included in the cotenancy law that passed for oil and gas companies. That law forbids surface disturbance without the surface owner’s consent if the oil and gas law is used. Using cotenancy for the purposes of longwall mining without requiring the consent of surface owners amounts to “forced subsidence.” 

Subsidence causes serious damage to properties, cracking foundations, draining drinking water tables, breaking gas and water lines, and reducing property values. The damage can even cause water wells to permanently dry — depleting a resident’s water source. 

SB 686 is currently in the House Energy and Public Works Committee, then it will head to House Judiciary. 

Please reach out to your representatives and urge them to REJECT SB 686.