Lake City, Tenn. (June 4) – A bill that would have prevented rock harvesting from occurring in Tennessee without the consent of landowners died Monday, June 1 in the House Budget Sub-committee.

 

The "Rock Harvesting" bill, HB2837, would have required the written consent of the surface owner to the extraction of minerals by surface mining and required a permit for the practice. Today, minerals can be removed from a landowner’s property without consent or permit.

 

“SOCM is extremely disappointed by this decision. The uncontrolled industry is impacting Tennessee’s ability to provide safe water resources to the citizens and protect re-sale values of private surface landowners in Tennessee,” said Landon Medley, member of SOCM’s Strip-mine Committee.

 

“This failure by the Tennessee General Assembly leaves surface landowners and the state’s real estate industry unprotected from damage caused by uncontrolled and unregulated rock harvesting operations in Tennessee’s watersheds. It is creating open-surface lands that are similar to old coal mining strip pits.

 

This is not the way the Tennessee General Assembly needs to be treating Tennessee land.”

 

SOCM will continue urging legislators to introduce a similar bill during the next Tennessee legislative session.

 

“We commend Rep. Richard Floyd for introducing a bill to hold rock harvesting operators accountable,” said Cathie Bird, Chair of the Strip-mine Committee. “We hope that in the future, legislators will stand beside these efforts that protect the Tennessee landowner.”

 

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