Public comment period on DNR draft rules for gas resource development is open.
The DNR is currently accepting public comments on its draft rules for gas resource development. The public comment period ends on July 2, 2026. Visit our gas rules public comment page for more information about how to submit your input.
On May 18, 2026, the DNR published a notice of intent to adopt rules for gas resource development in the Minnesota State Register (State Register Volume 50, Number 46). The draft rules that accompanied that notice are also available as a downloadable stand-alone PDF.
The DNR’s draft gas resource development rules cover topics identified by the Minnesota Legislature in 2024, including Permitting and Reclamation, Siting and Setbacks, Financial Assurance, and Pooling and Spacing. In addition to the information available on those pages, the DNR has prepared a document that describes the need for those rules, and provides a brief justification for each part of those rules. Its purpose is similar to a Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR), which the DNR did not prepare because the Legislature required DNR to develop the rules using expedited rulemaking procedures.
DNR Memorandum in Support of Notice to Adopt Rules
Additional information about the proposed rules and the rulemaking process is available at the DNR’s Rulemaking web page that briefly describes what the rules are about, what they will do, who might be affected, where you can get more information, and where comments on the draft gas rules can be sent.
Timeline
Publishing the notice of intent to adopt gas rules initiated a 45-day public comment period that ends on July 2, 2026. The DNR estimates that it will take at least 2-3 months to review and consider the comments received. The DNR will then revise and finalize the rule language based on that review, and submit that finalized rule language to the Court of Administrative Hearings (CAH), where it will be evaluated by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). The ALJ must approve or disapprove the finalized rule language within 14 days. Following the ALJ review, the agency will address any issues raised by the ALJand then publish a notice of adoption of the rules in the State Register. At that point the rules will go into effect.