Jason Johns

Experience

Jason is a senior associate in the Energy Development group, where he represents electric power and natural gas industry participants in commercial matters and in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state utility commissions. His clients include independent power producers, electric power marketers, merchant transmission developers, natural gas local distribution companies, industrial users of energy services and pipeline systems, and utilities.

Jason assists clients in gaining approvals for power projects from FERC; structuring energy projects and transactions to fit best with regulatory requirements, electric reliability requirements and enforcement investigations with the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and FERC; and negotiating interconnection agreements and shared facilities agreements in both RTO and non-RTO regions. In addition, Jason has worked on major regulatory reforms, including generator interconnection reform in the Midwest ISO, California ISO and Southwest Power Pool regions; FERC's policies impacting merchant transmission development, anchor tenants and the priority to transmission capacity; wind integration in the Pacific Northwest; and the 2000/01 California energy crisis. He often acts as lead FERC counsel in rate, tariff and transaction-related matters—in 2012, he was lead FERC counsel with respect to approximately $700 million in project financing. Jason also has extensive experience leading regulatory due diligence teams in project finance and acquisitions.

Jason often speaks on energy regulatory issues at conferences, and he publishes on the topic as well. In 2010, he co-authored two white papers for the Energy Foundation that discussed potential solutions to the barriers to transmission development in the Western Interconnection; he also spoke on this topic to energy industry leaders and political representatives at the 2010 annual meeting of the Western Governors' Association. Jason's articles have appeared in Natural Gas & Electricity, Recharge News, and the Renewable + Energy Law Blog.

Before joining Stoel Rives, Jason was employed as a chemist and specialized in developing and purifying synthetic pharmaceuticals, leading to his registering as a patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When he is away from the office, Jason can be found on the slopes of Mt. Hood, wading into Oregon's world-class trout and salmon fisheries or throwing high heat to his sons.

Representative Work

• Lead regulatory counsel in over $1 billion of equity and tax equity financings in 2012 for wind farms located throughout the Southwest Power Pool, the Midwest ISO regions and the Pacific Northwest.
• Lead FERC counsel in AltaGas' due diligence and acquisition of Decker Energy International's biomass facilities and LS Power's 507 MW Blythe gas-fired power plant in the California ISO.
• Negotiated settlement of claims against a seller participating in the 2000/01 California energy crisis.
• Negotiated power purchase agreements for projects located in the California ISO, Southwest Power Pool, Midwest ISO, Pacific Northwest and other non-RTO regions.
• Counsel before FERC on filings under section 203 and section 205 of the Federal Power Act and on protests, tariff waiver requests and rulemaking comments.
• Negotiated natural gas transportation capacity asset management arrangements for clients in the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West.
• Negotiated gas supply, transportation, distribution (including special contracts) and agency agreements for industrial gas users located in Washington, Idaho and Arkansas.
• Lead counsel in negotiating a settlement with WECC for alleged violations of reliability standards FAC-008 and -009.
• Defended Section 1603 applications from disclosure in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Professional Honors & Activities

• Member, Oregon State Bar Association
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Energy Bar Association
• Renewable Northwest Project
• National Wind Coordinating Collaborative

Presentations

• Moderator, Infocast Transmission West, San Diego, California, Oct. 2012
• "FERC Order No. 1000," Fall Board Meeting of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, Laramie, Wyoming, Oct. 2011
• "Transmission of Renewable Energy: Efficient Solutions to Integration Issues," EUCI, Portland, Oregon, June 2011
• "Challenges Facing Renewable Energy," Energy Committee Meeting of the Western Renewable Partnership, Sacramento, California, Apr. 2011
• "FERC Rulemaking Impact on Independent Transmission Projects," HVDC Transmission, EUCI, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Apr. 19, 2011
• "Challenges to Antique Laws in Renewable Energy," Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Missoula, Montana, Oct. 2010
• "FERC's Initiatives Supporting Renewable Energy," EUCI, Portland, Oregon, Aug. 2010
• "FERC Transmission Initiatives," Geothermal Energy Association, Las Vegas, Nevada, July 2010
• "Anchor Tenant Arrangements for New Transmission," EUCI, Portland, Oregon, Mar. 2010
• "FERC Policies Affecting Feed-In Tariff Programs," EUCI, Portland, Oregon, Feb. 2010

Publications

• "Developing Transmission and Capturing Potential of the West's Renewables" (co-author), Natural Gas & Electricity, Aug. 2011
• "Federal Bridge Financing for Transmission Could Enable Western Renewables Development" (co-author), Natural Gas & Electricity, May 2011
• "The Way Forward: Why Transmission Right Sizing and Federal Bridge Financing Hold the Key to Western Renewable Resource Development" (co-author), The Energy Foundation, Sept. 2010
• "Uncork That Transmission Bottleneck: A Legislative and Technological Roadmap for Tapping the West's Vast Renewable Energy Resources" (co-author), The Energy Foundation, Sept. 2010

Education

• University of Montana School of Law, J.D., with honors
  Technical Editor, Montana Law Review
• University of California, B.S., Chemistry

Admissions

• Oregon
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

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