Bill aims to curb abandoned oil and gas wells in Illinois through stiffer fines

Companies that violate the Illinois Oil and Gas Act could face stiffer fines under a new bill aimed at reducing the thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells scattered throughout downstate Illinois.

Passed by the legislature late last month, the bill comes in response to a Chicago Tribune investigative series that exposed the myriad problems surrounding those wells, and a similarly focused study jointly created by the California-based environmental nonprofit ClientEarth USA and the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said the Tribune series and the study led him to realize that "the extent of the problem was much vaster than I had anticipated."

At its core, the bill increases the maximum possible daily penalty for most violations of the act from $1,000 to $4,000. Operators who fail to comply with Illinois Department of Natural Resources' rules, regulations, orders or permits could also face steeper penalties under the bill: up to $2,000 a day for a violation that lasts more than 90 days but less than 180 days, and up to $4,000 a day for violations lasting 180 days or longer.

Penalties in excess of $1,000 a day will be deposited in the department's fund designated for the plugging and restoration of orphaned and abandoned wells, which as of this month, totaled nearly 3,900 wells. IDNR calculates the cost to plug them is around $155 million.

"The bill is certainly not intended to hamper an industry but to get at the bad actors," Hoffman said.

Edward Cross, CEO of the Illinois Oil and Gas Association, did not address a specific question about the Illinois bill, saying in an email that the association "supports a balanced and practical implementation of directives that advance public safety and environmental protection while fully accounting for economic realities, operator compliance histories and the need to prevent unintended consequences. We emphasize administrative efficiency, reduced burdens, risk-based approaches and flexibility for market conditions."

The bill now awaits Gov. JB Pritzker's signature. A spokesperson for the governor said he would "carefully review everything that comes across his desk once received by the Illinois General Assembly and before signing."

The ongoing Tribune investigation has revealed how years of mismanaged fees and inadequate record keeping have hobbled the state's efforts to clean up abandoned and orphaned wells, while companies have, in decades past, been able to easily evade their legal obligations to plug non-producing wells.

Even when the state attempts to hold known operators accountable, the Tribune found, those efforts can drag on for decades, allowing companies - some that are still profiting from oil and gas production, in this state and elsewhere - to potentially shift the cost of plugging their abandoned wells to the state and taxpayers, leaving holes in the ground that subject downstate communities to a host of contaminants, above and below ground.

"It is incredibly important for the legislature to continue to focus on this issue each session and moving forward, and I see great value in increasing the civil penalty amounts," Robert Weinstock, director of Northwestern's Environmental Advocacy Center and one of the report's authors, said during testimony at the May committee hearing.

"The increase in those daily penalties for violations is really a positive step, but if we want to create a system that puts the people and taxpayers of Illinois first, that only will be as effective as IDNR's enforcement," he continued. "IDNR currently is under-enforcing the law on the books, which means whatever penalties they're collecting, even if they are slightly higher or higher for certain types of violations, are just not going to be bringing money in anyway if there's no enforcement."

Weinstock questioned the effectiveness and necessity of two other provisions in the bill. One calls for annual fees collected on wells placed in temporary abandonment status to be deposited in IDNR's plugging and restoration fund, and for half of that money to be designated for a state grant program meant to reimburse landowners who pay to have abandoned wells on their properties plugged.

The grant program has not been used in at least two years, Weinstock noted, arguing that it prioritizes wells identified by landowners with the financial means to plug them over wells that could pose greater environmental hazards.

"I think that folks need to look hard at giving IDNR the latitude to spend (money) on the most dangerous and important wells first," he told lawmakers.

The other provision requires IDNR to write rules guiding the process by which operators can claim an "extraordinary circumstance" that prevents them from fixing a violation, thus delaying the assessment of any civil penalties. Examples of those circumstances mentioned in the bill include "roads being posted with a weight limit that prevents the movement of equipment" or "wet field conditions that prevent mitigation activities."

Oil and gas regulators already have enforcement discretion, Weinstock said in his testimony.

"Worse still, the language (in the bill) actually requires IDNR to undertake a rulemaking to memorialize this mechanism for leniency that, again, is unnecessary in the first place," he added. Doing so "will sap this agency of staff and resources, an agency that already lacks the staff and resources to enforce the laws on the books."

In May, the U.S. Department of the Interior unlocked additional Biden-era funds to help states clean up orphan wells. Illinois has already been awarded $50 million in separate grants under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since 2022, it has used federal funds to plug over 700 wells, according to an IDNR spokesperson.

Just as Illinois lawmakers work on legislation to hold operators accountable in the state - including a bipartisan law passed in 2025 that increased the bond amount companies are required to post for each well - the Trump administration is rolling back federal rules. This week, it moved to reduce bonding requirements for onshore oil and gas drilling leases, which environmental advocates say puts the burden of cleanup costs back on taxpayers.

Hoffman said the state needs to "make a commitment to address the issues" raised in the Tribune series and in the Northwestern-ClientEarth USA study.

"This is a first step," he said. "The next step is making sure we work with the department to enhance their enforcement."

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This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 2:37 PM.