While there have been many failed attempts to discover hydrocarbon resources over the past 140 years, Minnesota has no history of oil and gas production and therefore had no need for gas regulations. As a result, a regulatory framework for gas production wasn’t in place when helium was accidentally discovered in Lake County in 2011. There also weren’t rules and permitting procedures in place in 2024, when a helium-focused exploration company drilled at that same location and confirmed the presence of high-grade helium concentrations at depths greater than 1750 feet the surface.
The need for a regulatory framework for gas production crystallized in the Spring of 2024, when that helium exploration company announced that they might go into commercial production and develop that helium resource as soon as the end of 2025. In May of 2024, the Minnesota Legislature enacted legislation that prohibited gas production in the state without a permit issued by the DNR. The legislation then gave DNR and other state agencies the authority to write rules that would support a regulatory framework through expedited rulemaking. The DNR was also asked to lead a multi-agency Gas Resources Technical Advisory Committee (GTAC) to develop recommendations and draft legislative language for a temporary framework that, if enacted by the Legislature, would regulate gas production during rulemaking.
Unlike most other states with oil and gas resources, Minnesota doesn’t have a single board or commission that regulates gas production. Regulatory oversight and rulemaking responsibilities was therefore distributed amongst different state agencies according to their legislatively-defined roles and responsibilities. The 2024 legislation directed the DNR to write rules for its oversight of gas resource development Permitting, Reclamation, Siting, Financial Assurance, and Pooling and Spacing.
DNR is required to publish a notice of intent to adopt rules for the above topics by May 22, 2026. More information about this process is available on our Gas Rules page.