Energy & Regulatory

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Overview

OUR Practice
Stradley Ronon’s energy & regulatory team is involved in all aspects of energy matters – from regulatory advocacy and compliance matters to distributed generation, landfill and biogas-to-energy/fuel systems, and from gas fracking and pipeline strategies in the Marcellus/Utica region to rail transshipment of oil from the Bakken region.

OUR Experience
Our team has decades’ worth of experience helping clients navigate the complex regulatory landscape of structured and restructured energy markets, and has guided our clients’ projects through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Justice and more than 30 state energy regulatory bodies, as well as through the environmental permitting and land-use processes that are critical to project timelines. In addition to the energy team’s experience, when needed, we call on other professionals in the firm with experience in environmental matters, government affairs, mergers and acquisitions, financing and capital markets, corporate law, tax and litigation.

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Our energy team has vast experience in the following areas:

Electric & Natural Gas Regulation
Stradley’s team has participated in hundreds of electric and natural gas regulatory proceedings before FERC, DOE and numerous public utility regulatory commissions, as well as regional transmission organizations and independent system operators. Starting with the move toward restructured markets and continuing to today’s ever-changing regulatory environment, the Stradley team has advised clients on licensing obligations, rulemaking and complaint proceedings, tariff modifications, and market design issues.

Regulatory Compliance & Enforcement
Our energy lawyers keep abreast of the developing regulatory requirements and assist clients in reviewing and implementing revised processes to comply with these new regulations. One of our lawyers developed and managed an industry-leading compliance program governing electric and natural gas products on behalf of one of the largest integrated energy companies in the United States. We assist clients in developing internal policies, procedures and training initiatives for energy marketers and generators. When our energy clients find themselves the subject of federal or state enforcement investigations, we are seasoned in vetting mitigation strategies and, when necessary, litigation.

Pipeline & Generation Project Development
Our lawyers pride themselves on their ability to help clients develop new facilities that are on the cutting edge of the energy industry. We work carefully to maximize the tax benefits that inure to our clients, and create organizational structures that optimize economic returns. Our energy team is actively involved in the advancement of infrastructure upgrades necessary to support the Marcellus Shale development, including pipeline projects and upstream commercial development on a regional basis through:

permitting, licensing, and regulatory approvals analysis and implementation
environmental due diligence, including community relations
pro forma/financial and fundability analysis
site reviews and acquisitions
state and federal incentive packages for development/relocation
construction, site development and project management issues
leasing, property rights, real estate approvals, and land use and development

Marcellus Shale Brochure
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Ratemaking & Advocacy
Our team has substantial experience advocating for revisions to ratemaking policies, rate structures and utility tariffs related to infrastructure upgrades and effective cost recovery. We have also represented clients before regional transmission organizations and independent system operators on matters of market design, cost allocation, and recovery and market rules, including litigation before the regulatory bodies on tariff modifications.

Energy Transactions & Structured Deals
We have worked on all aspects of energy procurement, use, conservation and generation, including:

formation and construction of an oil transshipment facility on a brownfield power plant site
citywide LFG and biogas energy loop system
distributed energy systems that provide resilient primary and backup power for sensitive facilities such as hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities, pharmaceutical R&D labs and chemical production plants
solar and other renewable power systems to take advantage of grant and tax programs contributing to the cost-effectiveness of these technologies, including one of the largest solar production systems in California
large-scale landfill and biogas facilities used to power wastewater treatment plants, energy plants at industrial parks, and combined heat and power facilities at ports and chemical plants
wide range of energy-related agreements, including wholesale transactions and bilateral agreements, power purchase and tolling agreements, and refinery joint ventures
numerous energy asset and equity transactions valued in excess of $2 billion, including all aspects of regulatory approval from FERC, DOE and state public utility commissions for Fortune 200 companies
co-location of innovative energy projects that have synergies with local refineries for use of NGLs

Energy Efficiency
We have extensive experience working with clients on responding to RFPs for energy efficiency projects in both the public and private sectors. We have specialized knowledge with respect to performance guarantees, and how best to define and quantify the energy savings at the heart of these ESCO and P3 deals. In addition, Stradley’s energy lawyers have assisted large regional health care and religious facilities in the strategic purchase of energy and in the installation of cutting-edge technologies that reduce consumption.

Outreach Strategies
Working collaboratively with clients and our Government & Public Affairs group, we help develop comprehensive legislative, regulatory and policy strategies, and provide insight to help companies analyze and strategically manage their commercial plans, in order for them to thrive in a tightly regulated environment. In addition, we work as a team with clients and consultants to provide meaningful public and community outreach, a process that can prevent or minimize conflict and project delays.

OUR Solutions
We pride ourselves on carefully listening to our clients’ needs and recognizing and understanding their commercial goals, which allows us to develop effective solutions. Using our roster of clients and industry contacts, we link entrepreneurs with funders, create joint ventures for large-scale facility development, and enhance our clients’ opportunities by integrating them into the energy economy and connecting them with our other industry contacts.

Our professionals have experience across an array of industries, including:

Electricity and Natural Gas Retailers
Our lawyers have represented some of the nation’s largest retailers of electricity and natural gas to end users, as well as load-response providers that can increase revenues and decrease costs for end users through innovative curtailment strategies.

Health Care
Our health care clients have benefited from the resiliency and efficiency of combined heat and power facilities to create their own electricity which enables them to thrive during outages.

Manufacturing
We work with our large industrial and commercial clients on system resiliency, energy efficiency and strategic power-purchasing needs – enabling our clients to comprehensively evaluate their energy usage to find creative and cost-effective mechanisms to decrease consumption and/or utilize distributed energy systems. Our clients benefit from lowered costs of production with CHP and solar systems, integration of energy efficiency practices and specialized bulk-energy purchasing strategies.

Solid Waste
Our solid waste clients have recognized large gains associated with the sale of landfill and biogas into private pipeline systems as fuel-for-energy assets at government offices and chemical production facilities, while realizing substantial tax benefits.

Site Selection
We help match corporate facility requirements with our inside detailed knowledge of regional development sites targeted for energy and manufacturing operations.

Utility
Our utility clients have seen their dormant assets revitalized into oil transshipment ventures, creating value from converting dead-coal rail loops into bustling unit-train receiving facilities.

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