Firm Overview

Focused on Energy, the Environment, and Infrastructure

With 80 professionals in Washington, DC and Seattle, WA, Van Ness Feldman helps leading energy, manufacturing, transportation, and financial services clients, as well as numerous municipal governments, trade associations, and coalitions, design and comply with the nation’s energy and environmental laws. The firm also provides transactional and project development support, and representation in litigation and administrative proceedings.

Clients choose Van Ness Feldman because of our unwavering, 30-year focus on energy, environmental, and infrastructure law and policy. Clients benefit from our depth and breadth of government and industry experience, our creativity in solving complex problems, our ability to help clients develop effective strategies on “cutting edge” issues, and the accessibility of senior-level practitioners.

Our Services

The firm’s experience and capabilities include:

Natural Resources Permitting and Litigation

The firm assists electric utilities, resource developers, municipalities, and manufacturing companies on a wide range of Clean Air Act, Water and Endangered Species Act issues, as well as other permitting, regulatory, and policy matters.

Electricity

The firm’s comprehensive electricity practice represents investor owned utilities and large public power generation and transmission owners in all aspects of regulatory and policy counseling, permit­ting and project development, compliance, and litigation. The firm also assists electric utilities with development of legislative proposals in the areas of transmission access, construction, and air and climate policy.

Hydropower

The firm counsels a number of the largest and most high-profile hydro-electric projects in the U.S. on project development, licensing, relicensing, regulatory compliance, permitting, and operational issues. These projects involve a broad range of sizes and configurations of conventional and pumped storage projects, (including multi-unit developments), run-of-river and conduit facilities, and new hydrokinetic technologies. Current and recent firm clients in the hydropower sector account for nearly 40% of the installed hydro-power capacity in the U.S. licensed by the FERC.

Renewable Electricity Generation

Van Ness Feldman represents several leading project developers and independent power producers who are developing wind, solar, geothermal, hydrokinetic and incremental hydro-power, and waste-to-energy projects. The firm advises these clients on FERC and other regulatory issues, project permitting, and transactions. Our clients in this area also include large industrial users of electricity who are generating power at their manufacturing facilities from waste heat and other sources.

Renewable/Alternative Fuels

Van Ness Feldman represents participants throughout the entire value chain of alternative and renewable fuels. These include companies engaged in development of new high-yield energy crops; research, development, and demonstration of biotechnology processes to extract energy from these crops; biofuel production and refining; and distribution and delivery infrastructure.

Natural Gas, Oil, and CO2 Pipelines

The firm provides comprehensive regulatory and project development services to clients that are actively developing over $7 billion in new pipeline, import terminal, and storage infrastructure—including two of the largest, longest interstate gas pipelines in North America. The firm also is active in the emerging area of geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Energy Efficiency and Clean Technology

We advise product manufacturers, electric utilities, and non-governmental organizations on policy, regulation, and incentives related to energy efficient products and services. We also advise clean technology companies and their investors on the impacts federal policies will have on their developing markets.

FERC Regulatory and Compliance Counseling

A large component of our practice involves “day-to-day” counseling and advice on issues implicit in the construction and operation of natural gas and oil transportation and electric generation and transmission projects and facilities. The firm also assists clients in developing effective regulatory compliance and risk assessment strategies, and we represent clients in regulatory audits in such areas as corporate compliance and electricity reliability. The firm also provides transactional and regulatory counsel in such matters as corporate mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations, as well as energy asset acquisitions and sales.

Climate Change Policy and Emissions Trading

Van Feldman was one of the first law firms to have an active climate change and greenhouse gas regulatory practice, beginning in the mid-1990s. Our significant climate legislative, policy, and transactional engagements have resulted in the firm being twice honored by Environmental Finance as a leading U.S. law firm for emissions trading transactions, and being cited as a top-ranked climate change firm by Chambers USA Guide to the Legal Profession 2008.

Transportation

The firm represents automobile and light-duty truck manufacturers, manufacturers of engines for heavy-duty trucks and equipment, and manufacturers of recreational marine and small off-road equipment on tailpipe emission controls before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. In addition, the firm maintains an active rail shipper advocacy practice. The firm represents rail shippers in commercial contract matters, negotiations, litigation, and arbitration, and provides legislative counsel for industry associations on issues including “captive” rail shipment and railroad antitrust law and policy.