Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

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Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

Across the United States and around the globe, clients look to WilmerHale to tackle complex business issues involving science, law and policy.

Lawyers in the firm’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Practice draw on substantive legal and technical experience, a keen understanding of relevant industries and the regulatory landscape, and insight from government service to achieve our clients’ objectives. We represent entities across many 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 a range of legal issues involving regulatory, litigation, legislative and transactional challenges and support clients through the entire lifecycle of a matter, which includes handling highly charged congressional and agency investigations, crisis counseling and strategic response scenarios, and project development and related public processes and challenges. Our team includes a former US Secretary of the Interior, the former chair of a state Oil and Gas Commission, and other former high-ranking officials at the US Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and the US Department of Defense. We harness that experience to develop creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems, with clients’ long-term interests and cost effectiveness in mind.

Key Contacts

Meet Our Team

Areas of Focus

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Experience

    • Assisting clients in developing, enhancing and auditing corporate compliance programs, including 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 on 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 EPA'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

  • U.S. News - Best Lawyers® included WilmerHale on its 2017 “Best Law Firms” list for environmental law nationally (tier 1) and in Boston (tier 1) and Colorado (tier 2); energy law in Boston (tier 1); and natural resources law in Colorado (tier 2).
  • The Legal 500 United States recommended WilmerHale in the area of energy regulatory: conventional power in the 2017 edition, and energy: regulatory in the 2015 and 2016 editions.
  • The BTI Industry Power Rankings 2017 recognized WilmerHale for its strong client relationships in the energy industry.

Insights & News

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