Wichita ? Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran have filed legislation seeking to restore the state’s oversight of natural gas storage.

The Wichita Eagle reported that the bill would allow the state to restart its program of safety inspections of interstate gas storage facilities. A federal court ruling has limited the state to regulating storage fields that do business only within the state. As a result, 11 Kansas storage sites capable of holding more than 270 billion cubic feet of gas haven’t been inspected for 19 months.

The natural gas is housed in depleted oil and gas fields in Kansas. Companies pump the gas into huge caverns for storage until it is needed by utility companies.

Safety is a concern following 2001 gas leaks in Hutchinson that left two people dead.