Permitting and Environmental Review

Representative Client Work

New Project Development and Expansion

Assisted a public utility in permitting an electrical transmission and distribution project in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in Washington State. Assisted in preparing the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project, including responses to hundreds of public comments.

Successfully defended the EIS and the overall project at the trial court, before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, and then helped the client to obtain the necessary permits and acquire the necessary rights of way to get the project built.

Advising on development of the next generation of coal gasification projects involving carbon capture in Oregon and Texas.

The project, to be built near Odessa, Texas, has been awarded $350 million in federal grants and is planned to start construction in 2010. The plant will integrate proven carbon capture and gasification technologies designed to achieve a 90% carbon capture, the highest ever proposed. This innovative project, with its highly effective use of coal, is at the cutting edge of the intersection between climate concerns and domestic energy supply.

Currently working with federal, state, and local permitting agencies to assist nation’s largest private composting company to expand its operations and to implement a system of co-generation of electrical power using captured methane from newly installed anaerobic digesters. This project will require obtaining permits under Sections 404 and 401 of the Clean Water Act, SEPA approvals, review under the Endangered Species Act, and negotiation of an odor mitigation plan and air permits from the local air agency.

The company is building commercial methane digesters to capture methane and generate electricity from biomass to sell back to the grid.

Regulatory Compliance

Assisted a client in obtaining critical revisions to Washington State incinerator rules that allowed our client to comply with regulations that were otherwise intractable.

Successfully persuaded EPA that the revisions were not less stringent than the previous rule, so that the revisions could be incorporated into the federally approved State Implementation Plan and become federally enforceable.

Helped a prominent Washington homebuilder maintain compliance with state and federal stormwater pollution control laws and revised their real estate contracts to appropriately allocate stormwater pollution control risk.

The contracts were successfully revised to address the homebuilder’s concerns.

Appeals

Appealed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ denial of Alaska landowners’ permit application for a Cook Inlet project under the Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act.

Appeal was successful.

Represented a major fishing and processing company in a challenge to National Marine Fisheries Service allocations for the multi-million dollar Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Pacific Cod fishery under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Fishermen’s Finest, Inc. v. Gutierrez, 2008 WL 2782909 (W.D. Wash.),

Appeal pending, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals No. 08-36024.