CHEYENNE -- A legislative committee rejected an amendment Monday that would have barred Wyoming landowners from selling their land separately from the space below it.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would give Wyoming landowners rights over pore space below their surface property. Subsurface space can be leased to companies for energy storage.

However, the committee voted to leave it up to the courts to determine whether pore space is severable from land ownership on a case-by-case basis.

Rep. Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette, presented the bill. He said it would be dangerous to limit if and how landowners can split up their surface property from the space below it.

"I think we are taking property rights and telling people what to do with their property," Lubnau said.

Lubnau said the bill was drawn up to codify common law that Wyoming landowners own the space below their properties. The bill is supplementary to a bill that would regulate how carbon dioxide can be stored below ground.

The carbon bill will be voted on in the Senate on Monday.