Bankruptcy Bill Targets Mine and Well Cleanup Costs

What This Bill Does

This bill would change bankruptcy rules so oil, gas, and coal companies cannot use bankruptcy to avoid environmental reclamation duties. It aims to make sure cleanup and land-restoration obligations are paid even when a company restructures or liquidates.

For ordinary Americans, the bill is about preventing abandoned wells, mines, and other industrial sites from becoming taxpayer-funded cleanup problems. It could help protect communities near extraction sites, reduce environmental damage, and shift more of the cleanup burden onto the companies that created it.

Who This Bill Affects

For the general public, this would mainly strengthen environmental cleanup accountability for bankrupt fossil-fuel companies, potentially reducing the chance that taxpayers or nearby communities are left with unreclaimed sites. The most direct effects would be felt in regions with active or abandoned oil, gas, or coal operations.

Latest Status

May 26, 2026

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.