Energy

Overview

From policies regarding climate change and decarbonization to geopolitical upheaval and economic shockwaves, the landscape of the energy industry has undergone a paradigm shift. Any business that produces, markets, or consumes energy—nearly every business—will continue to be impacted in some fashion.

More than ever, companies should approach energy issues on a strategic level that encompasses not only maximizing their understanding of the law, but also engaging in business, economic, financial, and political strategy initiatives in a dynamic sector with shifting regulatory demands and economic challenges.

While energy policy today is directed toward reducing consumption of fossil fuels, the transition to renewable energy will take decades. In the meantime, the energy industry will require a balancing of the fuel mix which is both environmentally and economically viable.

Blank Rome’s Energy industry team is focused on how the change in the energy mix will impact other aspects of the energy industry, including producers of fossil energy, pipelines that transport oil and gas, and utilities that distribute natural gas to consumers.

We advise the full spectrum of energy-related clients, including:

  • National energy companies
  • Electric, gas, and water independents and public utilities
  • Governments
  • Oil, gas, petroleum liquids, and mineral producers, and nuclear fuel disposition programs
  • Liquid natural gas (“LNG”) importers, exporters, and storage operators
  • Pipeline, processing, and distribution companies
  • Oilfield companies
  • Electric transmission companies
  • Solar, wind, and hydro power developers and facility owners
  • Service providers, including engineering, procurement, construction (“EPC”), and environmental firms
  • Financial institutions, including private equity and infrastructure funds
  • Companies engaged in large scale marketing and trading of energy commodities

What Sets Us Apart

  • Our team includes a former U.S. Secretary of Energy, and former officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”).
  • Several of our energy attorneys are former high-level executives in major integrated oil, chemical, and natural resources companies and one served as a general counsel of a major public utility.
  • Our attorneys also provide their insights in monthly articles for The Legal Intelligencer are routinely asked to be featured speakers at industry events, and often serve as educators for Continuing Legal Education seminars and webinars. One of our energy partners is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.
  • We help our clients keep current on the latest trends in the industry through our regularly updated Energy and Environmental Trends Watch blog.
  • Ranked Tier 1 in U.S. News & World Report–Best Lawyers® 2023 “Best Law Firms” for Energy Law in Washington, D.C., and highly ranked nationally.
  • Chambers USA 2019 through 2023 ranked Blank Rome for Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory and Litigation) – Nationwide.
  • The Legal 500 United States 2023 listed blank Rome as a Recommended Firm for Energy Regulation: Oil and Gas.

How We Can Help

Blank Rome’s Energy industry team is ideally positioned to represent clients who wish to adapt to the changing energy landscape. Our offering is truly differentiated by our deep industry experience and interdisciplinary collaboration with firm colleagues in our Corporate; Environmental; Policy & Political Law; Real Estate; Tax; Labor & Employment; Government Contracts; and Maritime practice groups.

Transactional

Key Contacts: Sarah H. Frazier, Nina Bianchi Skinner, and David E. Kronenberg

Our energy attorneys, drawing on the firm’s deep bench of corporate finance experience, handle a wide range of energy-related corporate matters and transactions.

Our team has particular experience structuring complex financings involving multiple sources of finance, including equity investors, commercial banks, export credit agencies, multilateral agencies, vendors, bondholders, insurers, and hedge providers and end users. We also advise clients on energy and commodity transactions, including mergers and asset dispositions, anchor shipper agreements with pipelines and other infrastructure projects (e.g., terminal and storage projects), and complex secondary market agreements for commodities and capacity.

Every major transaction is supported across disciplines by our corporate, regulatory, tax, environmental, litigation, labor, employment, and benefits attorneys.

Our team can assist with a range of corporate services:

  • Derivatives and commodities
  • M&A (mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures)
  • Structuring transactions and finance
  • Negotiating and drafting letters of intent and acquisition agreements
  • Joint ventures
  • Tax structuring advice
  • Insurance coverage advice
  • Advice to boards and special committees on fiduciary duties and liabilities
  • Shareholder agreements
  • Debt and equity project financings
  • Corporate governance strategies
  • Capital markets participation (including securities ratings)
  • Strategic alliances
  • Regulatory compliance under federal and state laws
  • Subordinate, mezzanine, and Tranche B loans
  • Credit facilities
  • Loan workouts and restructuring 
Environmental

Key Contact: Margaret Anne Hill

Blank Rome’s nationally recognized team of environmental attorneys provide energy-related counsel to companies in every major business sector: upstream, midstream, downstream, and alternative and renewable energy producers, as well as municipal and county governments and redevelopment authorities.

We bring a wealth of experience from diverse backgrounds to clients in the energy industry and government and can assist with environmental issues and disputes related to corporate transactions as well as regulatory actions and enforcement investigations.

Our environmental attorneys focus on every substantive area of environmental law relevant to the energy industry, including:

  • Clean Air and Water Act permitting and enforcement
  • Safe Drinking Water Act permitting and enforcement
  • Civil and criminal enforcement and litigation 
  • Toxic tort claims, including groundwater contamination claims and claims stemming from other catastrophic events
  • Compliance auditing and environmental management systems
  • Insurance coverage litigation for policyholders
  • Due diligence, compliance auditing, and environmental management systems
  • Corporate, real estate, and lending transactions due diligence
  • Construction and operating permits for project development
  • Underground and aboveground storage tanks
  • Natural resource damage claims
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) matters
  • Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”)
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) and hazardous waste management
  • Superfund and voluntary remediation programs, including Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling Act 
  • Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (“HMTA”)
Regulatory

Key Contacts: Mark R. Haskell and Brett A. Snyder

We have extensive experience representing energy industry clients in regulatory matters before:

  • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”)
  • Department of Energy (“DOE”)
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)
  • Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)
  • Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”)
  • State public utility commissions
  • Regional transmission organizations (“RTOs”)
  • Independent system operators (“ISOs”)
Policy & Political Law

Key Contacts: Margaret Anne Hill and Frederick M. Lowther

Along with our government affairs team, Blank Rome assists clients in the regulatory rulemaking process, grant applications, and direct advocacy for changes in regulations, permit delays, and policy decisions. We routinely appear before the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), the U.S. Department of the Interior, and various state agencies and commissions across the United States, as well as before federal and state appeals courts, to challenge agency actions and rulings on our clients’ behalf.

Our team includes two former U.S. Senators; a former U.S. Secretary of Energy; and several former high-level staff to congressional representatives, congressional committees, and executive branch agencies. As a result of our extended history working in government, we maintain close working relationships with key policymakers at the state and federal levels.

At the state level, we represent our clients’ interests in natural gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing, and the resolution of related regulatory issues. At the federal level, we have particular strength on issues surrounding renewable energy, offshore wind, and transportation (including LNG). We have represented major renewable energy firms; numerous transportation companies; and shale oil and gas exploration, production, and mid-stream companies.

Our team can assist with a range of matters at the intersection of government and law, including:

  • Congressional relations
  • Executive branch liaison
  • Public policy, legislation, and regulation
  • Federal funding strategies
  • Strategic communications
  • Relationships and coalition building
  • Oversight and investigations
  • Political action committee (“PAC”) formation and management
  • Regulation of political contributions
  • State-level lobbying 
Real Estate

Key Contacts: Margaret Anne Hill and Dayna C. Finkelstein

Blank Rome’s energy and real estate attorneys work together to assist clients with the purchase, sale, development, and leasing of real estate, guiding clients through every phase of the process. Our firm also handles judicial and administrative challenges to real estate determinations.

We work with our energy clients on:

  • Zoning and land use due diligence
  • Zoning approvals
  • Land development and subdivision approvals
  • Building and related permits
  • Land acquisition (including by eminent domain)
  • Real estate tax analysis and due diligence
  • Real estate tax assessment and valuation appeals
  • Real estate tax exemptions and abatements
Tax

Key Contact: Cynthia Langelier Paine

Blank Rome’s tax attorneys represent energy companies in sophisticated transactions, complex tax controversies, and other matters having federal, state and local, and foreign tax implications.

We assist energy companies, public utilities, and independent power producers with their most significant tax planning concerns, in particular those related to navigating the state and federal regulatory issues impacting the tax aspects of energy transactions. Our combination of government, finance, and legal experience allows us to provide innovative and proactive tax advice to keep our clients ahead of the shifting tax environment.

Our tax attorneys help energy clients with:

  • Advising on tax controversies and litigation, principally involving disputes with the Internal Revenue Service
  • Evaluating current tax posture and quantifying the impact of potential investments, acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate structural changes
  • Preparing merger and acquisition tax due diligence reports developing and implementing strategic planning to achieve tax-efficient ongoing legal structures and exit alternatives
  • Negotiating tax incentives and credits with state and local taxing authorities
  • Spearheading and assessing loss contingencies in connection with FIN 48 compliance
  • Preparing legal opinions
  • Preparing and requesting letter rulings from federal, state, and local government authorities
  • Complying with U.S. laws affecting foreign investors (e.g., FIRPTA and CFIUS processes)
Labor & Employment

Key Contacts: Susan L. Bickley and Brooke T. Iley

Blank Rome’s nationally recognized Labor & Employment attorneys represent clients in a wide array of issues faced by the energy sector with concentration in:

  • Strategic counseling
  • Transactional advice
  • HR compliance and policy design
  • Management training
  • Internal investigations
  • Employment litigation
  • Class action defense
  • Wage and hour advice and litigation
  • Handling whistleblower complaints
  • Protection of trade secrets and competitive hiring
  • Labor law
  • Collective bargaining
  • Management/union relations
  • Benefits advice and counseling
  • Executive Compensation
  • ERISA litigation
Government Contracts

Key Contacts: Luke W. Meier and Robyn N. Burrows

Blank Rome’s preeminent Government Contracts practice brings a singular focus on providing the highest level of service to help clients in the energy industry. Our team is the foundation of our success, with more than 20 attorneys focused exclusively on government contracts law and litigation, including:

  • Maintaining one of the leading bid protest practices, representing both protestors and intervenors in bid protest matters in federal procurements;
  • Maximizing recoveries on contractor claims involving some of the largest contractors and government programs, as well as successfully defending against government claims (including terminations for default and convenience); and
  • Guiding companies and individuals through high-stakes suspension and debarment matters, helping to preserve continued eligibility for federal programs and benefits.

Our Government Contracts team also has industry-leading experience handling a variety of matters for clients across the Department of Energy complex, and a deep understanding of the work ongoing at Hanford, Oak Ridge, Savannah River, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (“WIPP”), and other DOE sites.

Maritime

Key Contacts: Keith B. Letourneau and Kierstan L. Carlson

Our maritime and surface transportation practice is widely recognized as a titan of maritime law. Clients include major ocean and inland marine transporters; major cruise operators; port facility operators; national railroads; and both national and regional oil, gas, and liquids pipeline companies. Our practice runs the full gamut of issues for this industry and focuses significantly on maritime and surface transportation of energy as well as energy issues impacting the industry (such as regulation of permissible clean vessel fuels).

Our maritime attorneys assist energy clients with:

  • Compliance with state, federal, and international regulatory requirements
  • Commercial, corporate, and general litigation
  • Insurance and reinsurance
  • Defending against enforcement actions and criminal prosecutions
  • Vessel casualties
  • Pollution incidents

Compliance with the Jones Act

Experience

Corporate

  • Acting as general maritime and product transportation counsel to Philadelphia Energy Solutions (“PES”) providing critical risk management and enterprise corporate structuring advice regarding environmental and maritime risks, both onshore and offshore, associated with the transportation of crude oil and refined products by rail and vessel.
  • Served as counsel to an exploration and production (“E&P”) company in a $90 million development financing.
  • Served as counsel to an E&P company in connection with the purchase of $136 million producing properties in the onshore Gulf Coast area.
  • Served as counsel to a leading independent oil refiner and marketer in the acquisition of more than 1,100 sites in 18 states in five separate transactions, some of which included 1031 exchanges.
  • Represented Siemens Energy in its sales of receivables arising from installment sales of wind farm components to international syndicates of institutional investors.

Environmental Permitting

  • Defended various Clean Air Act permits before the Environmental Hearing Board for the Mariner East project.
  • Served as counsel to PES for environmental permitting matters relating to infrastructure build out at the Philadelphia Refinery including with respect to Clean Air Act permitting to ensure the continued delivery and refining of shale resources from the Baaken Shale Play in North Dakota.
  • Served as counsel to P.H. Glatfelter regarding FERC, Public Utility Commission, and PHMSA requirements as well as contracting for a natural gas “plant line” pipeline spur to Glatfelter’s industrial plant from the nearby interstate line.
  • Served as counsel to numerous applicants to obtain deepwater port and shoreside LNG facility licenses in the United States under the Federal Deepwater Port Act and other federal and state laws.
  • Provided environmental advice and representation on permits relating to development of a multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant in Western Pennsylvania.

Litigation and Investigations

  • Represent Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. and Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in federal litigation involving Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act citizen suit claims related to an alleged petroleum release.
  • Defended a pipeline company in connection with a state and federal Clean Water Act enforcement action involving inadvertent returns associated with horizontal directional drilling.
  • Served as counsel to Shell in connection with the defense of its Clean Air Act permit issued for the Petrochemical Complex in Monaca, PA.
  • Served as counsel to BG LNG and Keyspan Corporation in the conversion of the KLNG facility in Providence, RI, from truck to marine loading, including all litigation ensuing from the denial of a permit by the FERC.
  • Served as counsel to five public utility companies in actions against the U.S. Government for the economic losses attributable to the breach of the Department of Energy’s obligation to commence removing spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants.

Regulatory Agency Proceedings

  • Represent Range Resources–Appalachia LLC before the Environmental Hearing Board in connection with an appeal of Range’s general permit for the beneficial use of drill cuttings.
  • Represent Exelon Generation Company, LLC before the Environmental Hearing Board in an appeal of Exelon’s Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
  • Represent Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. and Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in various appeals before the Environmental Hearing Board pertaining to air permits related to the Mariner East Project.
  • Served as counsel to Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in various vigorously contested proceedings before the Public Utility Commission in connection with Sunoco Pipeline’s Mariner East Project
  • Served as counsel to a pipeline company in enforcement actions involving the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and EPA relating to inadvertent returns associated with horizontal directional drilling which was conducted for a gathering line.

Project Development

  • Served as counsel to Poseidon Water LLC in the development, financing, construction, and operation of the one billion dollar, 54 million gallons-per-day seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad, California.
  • Served as counsel to Jordan Cove Energy Project in the development and permitting of a 1 BCF/d LNG export facility in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the development of a 232-mile pipeline from Malin, Oregon to Coos Bay, Oregon.
  • Served as counsel to Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company LLC in the development and permitting of a large-scale LNG production and storage project in Martin County, Florida.
  • Served as counsel to Spectra Energy and Keyspan Corporation in the development and permitting of the Island East Pipeline, including all litigation ensuing from the denial by Connecticut of a permit under the Federal Clean Water Act and Federal Coastal Zone Management Act.
  • Served as counsel to Boundary Gas Inc., Alberta Northeast Limited, and Iroquois Gas Transmission System in the development, permitting, construction, operation, and three-time expansion of a precedent-setting, multibillion dollar supply and pipeline transportation system to serve New York, New Jersey, and New England with natural gas sourced from Western Canada.

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC and EPCM) Disputes

  • Representation of a Norwegian contractor in a UNCITRAL arbitration in Calgary involving $400 million of claims arising out of the construction of a sour gas processing plant in British Columbia.
  • Representation of a contractor in claims totaling over $250 million in connection with the construction of a 790-megawatt super critical coal-fired power plant in Iowa.
  • Representation of a European contractor in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration sited in Geneva in connection with $165 million claims arising out of the construction of a blast furnace in Chicago.
  • Representation of a Mexican/Norwegian joint venture contractor in a United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) arbitration sited in London in connection with $42 million of claims arising out of the construction of a steel pellet mill facility in Venezuela.
  • Representation of an owner in connection with contract drafting, bid protest, project counseling, and claims resolution arising out of the construction of a $600 million light rail transit system in Pittsburgh.

Policy and Political Law

  • Monitored all Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia legislative action on bills that may impact oil and gas development within those states, with updates on same posted on fracking blog for an E&P company.
  • Served as counsel to a consortium of energy companies seeking specific provisions regarding energy regulation in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
  • Served as counsel to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan in proceedings before the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
  • Served as counsel to the Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization in seeking amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to authorize development and operation of an interim storage site for commercial spent nuclear fuel.
  • Helped secure federal funding for water treatments at a major manufacturing facility, enabling the company to expand its plant.
  • Assisted a major chemical company concerned with onerous regulations in the European Union with mitigating the impact of the regulations. We developed their successful strategy and connected the client with skilled local counsel.

Tax

  • Represented Duquesne Light Company, Duquesne Energy Inc., Toledo Edison Company, Ohio Edison Company, Pennsylvania Power Company, and Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company in significant matters before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.
  • Successfully resolved significant Pennsylvania tax issues for Duke Energy, PECO Energy, New Jersey Natural Gas Company, and Duquesne Light Company.
  • Represented PECO Energy in a Pennsylvania tax matter in which more than $60 million was at issue.
  • Represented New Jersey Natural Gas Company in matters before the New Jersey Tax Court and have represented Dayton Power & Light Company in Ohio tax matters.
  • Represented an international oil company in the successful representation of terminal and refinery facilities in securing major reductions in real estate tax assessments.

Team

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