Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

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Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

Clients around the globe look to us to tackle complex business issues involving science, law and policy.

Clients depend on our legal and technical experience, industry and regulatory understanding, and insight from government service to achieve their objectives. We represent entities across industries, including oil and gas, renewable energy, gas and electric transmission and distribution, mining, recreation, aviation, defense, real estate, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, and financial services.

We handle regulatory, litigation, legislative and transactional challenges and support clients through the lifecycle of a matter, which includes handling congressional and agency investigations, crisis counseling and strategic response, and project development. Our team includes a former US Secretary of the Interior and other former high-ranking officials at the US Interior and Defense Departments, and the US Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. Their experience is backed by strong litigators and corporate and intellectual property lawyers, which allows us to offer creative solutions that reach across disciplines—always with clients’ long-term interests and cost effectiveness in mind.

 

Key Contacts

Meet Our Team

Areas of Focus

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Attorneys General Investigations and Enforcement in the Energy Sector

Client Alerts

US Forest Service Proposes NEPA Streamlining Rule: Implications for the Outdoor Recreation Industry

Client Alerts

Experience

  • Helping clients develop, enhance and audit corporate compliance programs, providing guidance related to voluntary self-disclosures under applicable federal and state audit policies when appropriate.
  • Advising companies in closely regulated industries, including pharmaceuticals, on a variety of environmental permitting, compliance and enforcement issues in connection with research, manufacturing and laboratory operations, including the redevelopment of a 1.5-million-square-foot campus.
  • Advising renewable energy companies in the development, financing and operation of solar generation, onshore and offshore wind generation, and biofuel production facilities throughout the United States. We have secured federal, state and county land use approvals for nearly 4,000 megawatts of wind energy, including more than 1,000 megawatts in eastern Colorado.
  • Representing clients in connection with licensing and permitting to construct, operate, expand and decommission publicly controversial facilities in the nuclear energy, waste management, retail and recycling sectors.
  • Representing ski areas across the United States as public lands, National Environmental Policy Act, federal regulatory and land use counsel.
  • Representing seven national, state and local environmental and conservation groups as parties to the successful mediation and settlement of the 30-year-long Black Canyon of the Gunnison water rights litigation.
  • Representing several state entities in energy and environmental regulatory issues in connection with the proposed conversion of that state’s existing generation fleet from oil-based fuels to natural gas, compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s mercury and air toxics standards, and the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas import facility.
  • Defending a financial services company against electric market manipulation charges asserted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
  • Representing clients in numerous Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and analogous state-led enforcement proceedings throughout the United States, including the defense and prosecution of cost-recovery claims and designation as common counsel at numerous multiparty sites.
  • Representing clients in diverse matters relating to hydraulic fracturing, including monitoring and advocating in federal and state regulatory proceedings, defending personal injury and property damage claims, and evaluating risk associated with waste management and disposal.

Recognition

  • Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business—Recognized our team members Robert Kirsch, Peggy Otum and Ken Salazar in 2020 and our Colorado Environment practice in 2019.
  • U.S. News - Best Lawyers®—Included WilmerHale on its 2021 “Best Law Firms” list in the first tier for environmental law nationally and in Boston, Colorado and Washington DC, and in the second tier for energy regulatory law in Colorado.
  • The Legal 500 United States—Has recommended WilmerHale in the areas of energy regulatory: conventional power and oil and gas, as well as environment, regulatory.
  • The BTI Industry Power Rankings 2017—Recognized WilmerHale for its strong client relationships in the energy industry.

Insights & News

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