Â鶹ʮÈýÅ®ÀÉ

Energy Practice

• Led the environmental and permitting due diligence efforts for client's community-scale solar project portfolio, identifying and navigating risk associated with local ordinances, fire protection plans, road use agreements, building permits, and endangered species permit compliance.
• Provided comprehensive development and construction compliance support for client's Texas solar portfolio, including negotiating flood control easement authorizations, ensuring compliance with the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, reviewing field study scopes, leading agency consultations, and preparing opinion letters and permit matrices.
• Led the environmental and permitting due diligence efforts for client's community solar acquisition in Illinois, covering zoning and permitting guideposts, local ordinance risk to project design and viability, and associated transactional document revisions and negotiations to support a well-informed acquisition process.
• Guided client through local opposition to a battery energy storage project, managing responses to lender questions and advising on legal and legal and political strategies while drafting responses to county officials. Analyzed public information law issues to protect client confidentiality, reviewed injunction filings, assessed compliance with local fire safety orders, and negotiated indemnity and compliance provisions to address regulatory and community concerns.
• Provided federal, state, and local environmental and permitting counsel for solar and wind projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa, New York, and Maine.
• Evaluated federal permitting and consultation needs for renewable energy projects, focusing on the National Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Water Action Nationwide 404 permits, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Incidental Take Permits, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Eagle Take Permits, Federal Aviation Administration, and Bureau of Land Management.
• Part of environmental and permitting local counsel for biogas, ethanol, carbon capture, and green hydrogen projects across the United States.
• Drafted and negotiated permitting and environmental representations and warranties for energy finance, tax equity, and construction loan deals totaling over 10 GW of wind and solar projects.
• Led team's efforts to obtain Conditional Use Permits and zoning authorization across five battery storage projects in Oregon and Washington.
• Evaluated client's Security and Exchange Commission environmental disclosures.
• Served on developer's counsel team for Swift Current in the closing of debt financing and a tax equity commitment for a 266 MW solar project located in Southeast Texas. The Â鶹ʮÈýÅ®ÀÉ team assisted in the areas of real estate, environmental and permitting, and electric regulatory throughout the purchase, development, debt financing, and funding stages. The transaction was structured to reflect the new U.S. Inflation Reduction Act policy guidance.
• Assisted Arevon Energy in the closing of a $500 million financing package for the 430 MW Kelso 1 & 2 Solar Projects in southeastern Missouri.

Environmental Practice

• Guided university client through complex settlement negotiations with environmental enforcement agencies, drafting key settlement documents and penalty negotiations to achieve a successful resolution through a compliance commitment and abatement plan implementation.
• Supported client's Michigan and Wisconsin renewable natural gas project development and financing work by obtaining local and state wastewater and air permits, navigating National Environmental Policy Act compliance, drafting zoning determinations, and facilitating compliance with Farmland and Open Space Preservation Act. compatible use provisions.
• Helped a global mining company client through the complex landscape of federal and state environmental permitting authority, drafting replies to public comments, reviewing tribal treaty rights authority and water quality monitoring reports, and advising on litigation strategy and national security exemption strategies.
• Managed the comprehensive environmental due diligence review for the acquisition of manufacturing facilities across ten states analyzing operational risks, permit coverage, and environmental liabilities to ensure purchase risks and compliance matters were thoroughly addressed before closing.
• Conducted environmental due diligence for the sale of agricultural operations in Wisconsin, focusing on permit compliance and transferability, liability associated with ongoing permit noncompliance risks and corresponding transactional document revisions and negotiations.
• Worked closely with a consumer banks architect and environmental consultant to lead all phases of environmental due diligence and compliance for the planned property development with a restrictive Special Warranty Deed, beginning with negotiation and review of the Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments and continuing through the drafting and revision of the Soil Management Plan purchase document negotiation.
• Supported client's Milwaukee asset transaction by conducting detailed environmental due diligence, including review of Phase I reports, compliance memoranda, and disclosure schedules related to permit coverage and PCB contamination, drafted indemnity provisions, analyzed liability caps, and negotiated language in the purchase agreement and leases to address environmental risks and compliance gaps.
• Served as team's lead outside counsel for clean air act enforcement actions in front of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Natural Resource offices.
• Defended clients in clean air act enforcement actions brought by state Attorney General offices.
• Assisted clients in clean air act and clean water act permit acquisitions, including assessment under environmental justice.
• Researched and drafted client support memorandums to state agencies covering EPA's Clean Water Act Veto Authority, Waters of the United States, and Supreme Court case County of Maui groundwater discharge functional equivalence test.
• Negotiated potential responsible party agreements and participated in mediation procedures.
• Coordinated environmental due diligence efforts for merger and acquisition deals, totaling over a $500 million portfolio across transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing clients.
• Helped clients respond to hazardous substance spill reporting requirements, product safety label enhancements, and community notice requirements.
• Assisted clients in evaluating their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) statements to avoid "greenwashing" concerns and to comply with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requirements.