(1) The commission shall prescribe rules and regulations governing the practice and procedure before the commission.

(2) No rule, regulation, or order, or amendment thereof, except in an emergency, shall be made by the commission without a public hearing upon at least fifteen days' notice. The public hearing shall be held at such time and place as may be prescribed by the commission, and any interested person shall be entitled to be heard.

(3) When an emergency requiring immediate action is found to exist, the commission is authorized to issue an emergency order without notice or hearing which shall be effective upon promulgation. No emergency order shall remain effective for more than twenty days.

(4) Any notice required by the provisions of sections 57-901 to 57-921, except in proceedings involving a direct complaint by the commission, shall be given at the election of the commission either by personal service, registered or certified mail, or one publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the land affected, or some part thereof, is situated. The notice shall be issued in the name of the state, shall be signed by a member of the commission or its secretary, and shall specify the style and number of the proceedings, the time and place of the hearing, and the purpose of the proceeding. Should the commission notice be by personal service, such service may be made by any officer authorized to serve summons, or by any agent of the commission, in the same manner and extent as is provided by law for the service of summons in civil actions in the district courts of this state. Proof of the service by such agent shall be by his or her affidavit and proof of service by an officer shall be in the form required by law with respect to service of process in civil actions. In all cases where a complaint is made by the commission or the Director of the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission that any part of any provision of sections 57-901 to 57-921, or any rule, regulation, or order of the commission is being violated, notice of the hearing to be held on such complaint shall be served on the interested parties in the same manner as is provided in the code of civil procedure for the service of process in civil actions in the district courts of this state. In addition to notices required by this section, the commission may provide for further notice of hearing in such proceedings as it may deem necessary in order to notify all interested persons of the pendency of such proceedings and the time and place of hearing and to afford such persons an opportunity to appear and be heard.

(5) All rules, regulations, and orders issued by the commission shall be in writing, shall be entered in full and indexed in books to be kept by the commission for that purpose, shall be public records open for inspection at all times during reasonable office hours, and shall be filed as provided by the Administrative Procedure Act. A copy of any rule, regulation, or order certified by any member of the commission, or its secretary, under its seal, shall be received in evidence in all courts of this state with the same effect as the original.

(6) The commission may act upon its own motion or upon the petition of any interested person. On the filing of a petition concerning any matter within the jurisdiction of the commission, the commission shall promptly fix a date for a hearing thereon, and shall cause notice of the hearing to be given. The hearing shall be held without undue delay after the filing of the petition. The commission shall enter its order within thirty days after the hearing.

(7) A petition filed with the commission for a public hearing shall be accompanied by a filing fee of two hundred fifty dollars.

Source:Laws 1959, c. 262, § 11, p. 908; Laws 1961, c. 279, § 1, p. 816; Laws 1967, c. 354, § 2, p. 939; Laws 1967, c. 356, § 1, p. 944; Laws 1995, LB 407, § 2; Laws 2016, LB1082, § 5.

Annotations

The requirement that the commission enter its order within thirty days after hearing is directory, not mandatory. Ohmart v. Dennis, 188 Neb. 260, 196 N.W.2d 181 (1972).

Rule 13(b) adopted hereunder establishes regulations for all wells drilled to sources of supply at estimated depth exceeding two thousand five hundred feet where no spacing pattern has been established by existing wells. Farmers Irr. Dist. v. Schumacher, 187 Neb. 825, 194 N.W.2d 788 (1972).