Experience

CEQA and Project Development

• Provided CEQA and permitting advice for the development of over two dozen solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and gas-fired energy facilities throughout California.
• Helped successfully defend the City of Sacramento and Redevelopment Agency against CEQA challenges to a large-scale mixed use redevelopment project.
• Defended a biomass plant against multiple CEQA law suits, settling both suits and obtaining a release of all claims against the project owner.

Energy Project Finance and Acquisition

• Represented sPower in a tax equity investment and syndicated construction and term loan facility totaling $786 million. The debt facility, raised by a syndicate of lenders led by KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., will finance a portfolio of nine solar projects in Lancaster, California, with a total nameplate capacity of 339.4 MW.
• Conducted permitting and environmental due diligence for the sale, financing, and acquisition of several dozen energy facilities. Negotiated contractual terms related to environmental matters and allocation of risk.
• Prepare environmental and permitting opinions for the benefit of lenders and project investors.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulation and California Cap and Trade

• Counsel electricity producers and importers on compliance with the California cap and trade program and mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting.
• Advise industrial facilities on the applicability of and compliance with federal greenhouse gas permitting requirements and the California cap and trade program.Representative clients include oil and gas producers, mining operations, a rice straw fiberboard manufacturer, a fertilizer plant, a cement producer, and thermal power plants.
• Negotiated amendment of a power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison to provide for reimbursement of California cap and trade compliance costs to the power plant owner.
• Advised an out-of-state biomass plant on cap and trade obligations associated with importing power into California and negotiated allocation of carbon costs under several power purchases agreements.
• Advised an investment bank on the risks and liabilities associated with a loan to purchase real property to create a forest offset project under the California cap and trade program, helped draft related terms of the loan and security agreement.
• Counseled several timber companies on creating projects to generate carbon offsets from forest lands for sale in the California cap and trade market, including negotiation of carbon development services agreements.
• Joint defense of a group of small fuel companies against enforcement by the California Air Resources Board under the California greenhouse gas reporting regulation and the cap and trade program.

Air Quality Permitting, Compliance, and Defense

• Assist with permitting and provide advice on compliance with the Clean Air Act new source review and prevention of significant deterioration programs, as well as local air quality regulations, including San Diego Air Pollution Control District, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and South Coast Air Quality Management District rules.
• Defend sellers and manufacturers of consumer products against enforcement by the California Air Resources Board.
• Defended a pollution control device manufacturer against lawsuits for civil penalties brought by the California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District, and Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.
• Handled the sale of emission reduction credits, including drafting a purchase and sale agreement.

Honors & Activities

• Editor, Climate Change Law and Policy Reporter
• California Bar Association, Environmental Law Section, Executive Committee Member and Environmental Legislation Committee Co-Chair
• American Bar Association, Environment, Energy and Resources Section
• Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Law Section
• Member, Power Association of Northern California
• Member, Association of Women in Water, Energy and Environment
• Member, California Women in Energy
• Member, Association of Environmental Professionals
• Member, Air & Waste Management Association
• Member, California Women for Agriculture
• Member, Urban Land Institute

Insights & Presentations

• Regular contributor to the Stoel Rives Renewable + Law Blog and the California Environmental Law Blog
• “Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California ReMAT In Winding Creek Solar Case” (coauthor), Solar Industry, Aug. 2019
• “SB 100: Clean energy law,” Daily Journal New California Laws supplement, Jan. 2019
• “Western states race to counter Trump’s retreat on climate change policy,” Westlaw Journal Environmental, December 2018
• Moderator, “Mindfulness and Competence in Legal Practice,” Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite, October 2018
• “Western States Proceed with Climate Legislation Regardless of Trump’s “ACE” Rule” (coauthor), Renewable Energy World, September 2018
• Moderator, “Regionalization and the Future of Market Development in the West,” Infocast California Energy Summit, May 2018
• “California cap and trade at the crossroads,” Westlaw Journal Environmental, April 2017
• “Permitting and Land Use” (coauthor), Chapter 6, The Law of Solar Energy: A Guide to Business and Legal Issues, Stoel Rives LLP, Fifth Edition, 2017
• Moderator, “California’s Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015: What’s Next for SB 350?,” Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite, October 2016
• “Cap-and-Trade Links will Bolster Market,” San Francisco Daily Journal, July 2016
• Moderator, “How Will the EPA CPP Affect California and the West,” Infocast California Energy Summit, May 2016
• Moderator, “Renewables On the Grid:Integration Challenges and Proposed RPS Standards,” Platts California Power and Gas Conference, November 2015
• “EPA Enforcement Update,” Stoel Rives 2015 Workshop Series, October 15, 2015
• “California Dreaming,” PV Magazine, July 2015
• “The Short and Long Game of California’s GHG Reduction Plan,” Law360, May 2015
• “Get Ready for California’s Energy Storage Boom,” Solar Industry Magazine, April 2014
• Chair, Infocast California Energy Market Summit, December 2013
• “Growing Trends in Forest Offset Projects: The legal landscape of development for the California carbon market,” Stoel Rives Forest Products Industry Webinar, November 19, 2013
• “Supreme Court to Review EPA’s Authority to Regulate Stationary Sources of Greenhouse Gases,” Law360, October 2013
• “California’s Cap and Trade Program under AB32 – a Primer“ (coauthor), Stoel Rives LLP, December 2012
• “Strategies for Complying with Current GHG Regulations in California,” EUEC 2012, February 2012
• “Siting Plants (All Scales)” Chapter, The Law of Biorefineries and Advanced Biofuels, Stoel Rives LLP, 2012 Edition
• “Sacramento Railyards: How the City of Sacramento is Facilitating Development of the Largest Brownfield Infill Site in America” (coauthor), California Real Property Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2011
• “Getting Ready for Greenhouse Gas Requirements in California,” Infocast Webinar, October 2011
• “Wind Projects Enter New Permitting Reality: Policies Addressing Wind Development on Federal Lands May Favor the Easiest – Rather Than the Best – Projects” (coauthor), North American Windpower, Vol. 8, No. 9, October 2011
• “How to Negotiate Like a Lawyer,” Comstock’s Magazine, March 2011
• “California Adopts its Cap-and-Trade Program for Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Fresno Bar Journal, February 2011
• “Land Use Implications of Renewable Energy Projects,” Northern California County Counsel Association Annual Conference, July 2010
• “Ailing California Works to Solve Wind Slowdown” (coauthor), North American Windpower, October 2009
• “Renewable Energy Facility Siting,” California Bar Association Environmental Law Section Spring Roundtables, June 2009
• “California’s Green Building Standards,” LSI Legal and Regulatory Issues in Green Development, January 2009
• “Water—Know Your Rights” (coauthor), Wine Business Monthly, December 2008

Related News & Publications