Review - DOE Sends Admin Procedures on Natural Gas DFR to OMB – 7-9-25

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a ‘final rule’ from the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy on “Administrative Procedures with Respect to the Import and Export of Natural Gas”. A direct final rule (DFR) on the same subject (and RIN - 1901-AB67) was published in the Federal Register (90 FR 20758) on May 16^th, 2025.

It looks like yesterday’s announcement by OIRA deals with the DOE’s response to the two ‘significant adverse comments’ (here and here) received by DOE in response to the earlier DFR. If DOE acknowledges that either of the two received comments meets the definition of a ‘significant adverse comment’ under DOE’s administrative procedures, the newly announced rulemaking will:

• Withdraw the rulemaking (and perhaps initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking doing the same thing), or

• Reissue the rulemaking with new language that specifically addresses how the rulemaking meets the exception requirements of 5 USC 553(b).

I suspect that the second option will be used with the DOE specifically claiming (with some justification) that the revised requirements do not require the application of the ‘good cause’ exception {§553(b)(B)} since they fall under the “rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice” exception under §553(b)(A). The previously issued rulemaking already outlined how the revised procedures would decrease the burden on the regulated community, but did not specifically claim the subparagraph (A) exception.

I do not plan to cover this rulemaking in any depth when it is published, but I do expect to report its publication in the appropriate ‘Short Takes’ post.

 

For more details about this rulemaking, including a discussion about the DFR exception process, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/doe-sends-admin-procedures-on-natural - subscription required.