(The Center Square) – A state lawmaker says recently-signed legislation will ensure that Illinois taxpayers don’t foot the bill for cleaning up abandoned oil wells.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2463 earlier this month. The bill sponsor, state Sen. Erica Harriss, R-Glen Carbon, said the measure addresses a costly problem.

“So the law would ensure that oil well operators, not taxpayers, are financially responsible for closing and remediating sites once the drilling operations have ceased,” Harriss explained.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, more than 150,000 oil, gas, and injection wells have been drilled in Illinois since 1853. EDF mapped locations for the state’s 4,050 “orphan” oil wells, most of which are in Southern Illinois.

The EDF website states that oil a

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