RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A reconstituted panel charged with regulating North Carolina oil and natural gas exploration — including fracking — plans to meet for the first time this week, even as Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's administration questions whether it can legally do so.

The state Oil & Gas Commission needs to meet Wednesday so it can address several complaints within a 60-day window, according to Jim Womack, who was originally appointed in 2015 to an earlier form of the commission by Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican. The outside complaints include challenges to moratoria on fracking i...