The development and financing of major energy projects is a multifaceted endeavor, involving long lead times at the outset to assemble data concerning sites, equipment, construction, power sources to operate the facility, grid connections, purchase of power generated, permits, entity structuring and financing, and sustained attention to implement the project once it is agreed upon. Attorneys in this firm have experience guiding and participating in the assemblage of the necessary data and in participating with business people, government entities, engineers and others in analyzing it, determining the steps to take to economically and practically bring a project to life and pursuing the arrangements required to make the project real.

Our lawyers have assisted and reviewed with owners and others engineering and technical studies and other plans and specifications for projects, bids for equipment and construction, and proposals from providers of power to operate facilities and from users to purchase power generated from facilities. We have represented owners in negotiating contracts to purchase real estate and obtain relevant easements, purchase and maintain equipment, build and maintain structures, including structures to house and service equipment, purchase fuel to operate facilities, including natural gas and coal, and sell electricity produced by the facilities.  We have also provided the corporate, securities and tax services required for structuring the project entity and providing equity or debt financing.  We have carried out necessary project and environmental reviews, and obtained licenses and permits from relevant regulatory authorities, often on a cross-border or multi-jurisdictional basis.

We have substantial experience in construction of various kinds of projects and in purchase of major pieces of equipment, including combined turbine generating facilities. Our lawyers negotiate contracts with engineers, architects and contactors in various settings and coordinate closely with owners and lenders the terms of those contracts. We represent government agencies and project sponsors in condemning property interests, including easements, required for project uses.

We are engaged in domestic and global private and public equity and debt financings for oil and gas producers, drilling companies and equipment manufacturers and sellers. Our attorneys have represented companies sponsoring hydroelectric generating facilities and facilities producing power from unconventional sources such as used tires. We have also worked on generating plants using methane from landfills and related financings. We have prepared offering documents for private and public sale of equity securities to provide financing for power plants and have assisted owners in negotiating arrangements with underwriters and mezzanine and senior lenders.

The firm is pre-eminent in the field of energy facility environmental review and permitting, having recently represented major regional public authorities in conducting environmental reviews and permitting for a new large combined-cycle power plant, several smaller simple-cycle plants, new substations and transmission lines, and renewable energy projects (such as energy efficiency initiatives, pilot wind projects and solar projects). We also were involved in early environmental review work for a proposed large-scale off-shore wind park, and have advised clients in connection with filings in response to requests for proposals, including a recent RFP seeking to bring in an additional 500 MW of power to New York City. Earlier, we were instrumental in helping a public authority site, construct and operate ten new simple turbines throughout New York City in one of the most expeditious environmental review, permitting and litigation projects ever.

We have assisted clients in the transfer of major power plant assets, including due diligence review of agreements and preparing for the transfer of contracts and permits pursuant to state and local laws, and in the permitting and environmental review for major transmission and pipeline facilities.

For aspects of projects outside of our geographic area, including those (such as real-estate use regulation) that are purely local in nature, we work closely with our clients’ local experts and counsel, and draw upon multi-state and international networks of law firms and other professionals with whom we have long-established relationships for assistance.

Multifaceted projects require significant organization and coordination. Our firm has experience organizing, coordinating and leading face-to-face meetings, conference calls and interactive internet sessions with experts and professionals from many disciplines who can provide, absorb and apply information to those projects. Coordinating the wisdom of experts is a vital aspect of realizing cost-effective and efficient power projects with the potential to provide maximum profits to their sponsors.

The firm’s attorneys have been active for many years in the fields of energy, domestic and international environmental law, greenhouse gas regulation and climate change, serving on local and state bar association committees, teaching continuing legal education and other courses, speaking widely on these matters and assisting in the development of standards in such areas as the appropriate discussion and disclosure of climate change effects in project environmental impact analysis as a prerequisite to governmental permitting and handling the financing of numerous energy-related companies.

An example of our climate-change related work involves the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state effort in the northeastern United States to establish the first mandatory cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions at the regional level. On behalf of the RGGI states, we established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc., to assist the states in conducting region-wide auctions of emission allowances, implementing a regional system for tracking emissions, setting up requirements for emissions offsets and emissions credits, and related matters, and we serve as its counsel.