The 2024 legislation that granted DNR and other state agencies rulemaking authority for gas resource development requires the use of expedited rulemaking procedures that differ from the regular rulemaking procedures used by state agencies. There are three main differences:
Under regular rulemaking, a state agency has 18 months to develop draft rules and publish a notice of intent to adopt those rules in the State Register. Ironically, a longer 24-month deadline applies to rules written under expedited procedures.
Regular rulemaking includes two rounds of public input; one at the start of rulemaking, in which the public is invited to comment on what topics the rules should cover, and a second round of public input that starts on the day that an agency publishes a Notice of Intent to Adopt Rules. Agencies use that second period to collect input on their draft rules before they are finalized and submitted for legal review. Under expedited procedures only the second public comment period is required.
Although our rulemaking process lacked an initial round of public comment, the draft GTAC report that was published prior to the start of rulemaking had its own public comment period.
The input received then from the Tribes, stakeholders, and the public was critical not only for finalizing that report, but for helping GTAC agencies who moved on to rulemaking to determine areas of focus. The GTAC public comment period therefore effectively substituted for an initial rulemaking public comment period.
Under expedited rulemaking procedures, an agency does not have to prepare a “Statement of Need and Reasonableness” (SONAR). A SONAR provides extensive background information about the proposed rules for the benefit of decision makers and citizens, and is a required part of the rulemaking record that is reviewed by an Administrative Law Judge in the Office of Administrative Hearings prior to adoption.
While DNR was not required to prepare a SONAR under expedited procedures, DNR staff have prepared a more concise justification that provides a general overview of the need for our rules and a short justification for each rule section.
The justification document for DNR’s gas production rules will be (was) posted online when its Notice of Intent to Adopt is (was) published on May 18, 2026. It was therefore available to support the generation of input during the public comment period. The document will also be (was) submitted as an exhibit when our rules are reviewed by an Administrative Law Judge prior to their adoption.