News & Alerts
December 12, 2019 WOGCC PROVIDES NEW PROTEST FILING DEADLINE FOR COMMISSION RULE CHAPTER 5, SECTION 11(b)
On December 10, 2019, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission provided guidance on the timing of filing protests/objections to any Application filed with the Commission. Commission Rule Chapter 5, Section 11(b) provides that a written objection to an Application must be filed at least three (3) days prior to the date the matter is set to be heard by the Commission. This rule is read concurrently with Commission Rule Chapter 5, Section 26(a) that outlines the computation of time. Chapter 5, Section 26(a) provides that the last day of a period that is to be computed cannot land on a weekend and that the first day of a time period is not included in the computation of time. As such, Supervisor Watson provided that due to the ambiguity that can be read into the computation rule as to what day and time the three-day rule ends, from December 10, 2019, forward the protest/objection deadline will be 5:00 pm on the Thursday prior to the Tuesday Hearing date. For example, next month’s hearing date is Tuesday, January 14, 2020. The protest/objection deadline would therefore be Thursday, January 9, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.
Supervisor Watson further stated that if a protest/objection is not received by the Thursday 5:00 deadline, Commission Staff will not accept the protest and the matter will move forward to Examiner hearing (unless previously protested by another party).