Oil firms must post bigger bonds to drill on federal land.
H.R. 10721 — Stop Orphaned Wells Act · Filed by Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Oct 5, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill requires oil and gas firms to post larger bonds before they drill on federal land. These bonds must cover the cost to plug old wells and restore the land after drilling stops. The bill also bars firms with poor safety records, weak money, or past bankruptcies from taking over leases. The Interior Department must check each year that firms follow reclamation rules.
Who it affects
Taxpayers benefit because oil and gas firms, not the government, will pay to clean up old wells. Oil and gas firms operating on federal land must post bigger bonds and follow stricter rules.
One thing to notice
The bill makes each oil and gas firm post separate bonds for each lease or state. This raises the cost and work for large firms.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 6 Democrats.
- Oct 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 5, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal land — Land owned by the U.S. government, not by states or private people.
- bond — Money a firm must set aside to pay for cleanup if something goes wrong.
- old wells — Oil or gas wells that firms stop using and leave behind without plugging them.
- reclamation — Restoring land to a safe condition after drilling or mining stops.
- Interior Department — The federal agency that manages public lands and natural resources.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (29,003 characters) on Oct 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Oil firms must post bigger bonds to drill on federal land.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10721/simple Report an error
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