Sangamon Sun

The Illinois House Energy and Environmental Committee has approved a measure designed to tighten oversight and enforcement of leaking gas fields.

In a unanimous vote, lawmakers gave their approval to a bill that would require the state to verify the source of leaking gas, which would then be tested and traced back to the storage field. The company involved would be required to pay the cost associated with the leak such as installing gas detectors and a comprehensive inspection of the walls that drill down to draw the gas out of that storage formation.

“There’s clearly a number of cracks in the system where people are falling through the cracks,” said state Rep. Bob Morgan. “And these big, multinational, multi-billion dollar companies are polluting the area — whether it’s the air or the water — and we need to make sure people are safe, and we’re holding them accountable so that this kind of pollution stops.”