Kyle W. Danish

Member

Kyle Danish advises a range of clients on environmental matters, with a special focus on corporate climate strategy, emissions trading-related transactions, and regulation under the Clean Air Act. His clients include electric generation, oil and gas, and mineral exploration companies, financial institutions, offset providers, manufacturers, industry coalitions, and think tanks. 

Mr. Danish provides counsel to the Coalition for Emission Reduction Projects, a group of companies advocating for carbon offsets as a central part of a U.S. system regulating greenhouse gas emissions.  The Coalition consists of companies from the energy, manufacturing, financial, and agricultural sectors.  For more information, please see www.uscerp.org.

Mr. Danish was the only U.S. attorney recognized in the first band of worldwide climate change attorneys in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2009, and one of only three attorneys listed in the first tier of national climate change lawyers in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2008.

He is a frequent speaker and has published numerous articles on global warming and emissions trading issues. Mr. Danish also has authored several commissioned research papers on climate change and energy policy. For a complete list of Mr. Danish’s presentations and publications, please click here.

Representative Matters 

• For a natural gas pipeline company, analyzing the potential exposure of the company to regulation under Federal climate change legislation;
• Counseling on emissions trading transactions in South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism;
• Analyzing a multinational energy company’s potential exposure to evolving U.S. climate change laws and policies;
• Serving as lead counsel to PowerTree Carbon Company, a carbon fund that invests in forest sequestration projects for two dozen electric power companies;
• Assisting a U.S. electric power company in development of a shareholder report on the company’s risks and opportunities from climate change laws and policies;
• Advising a multinational energy company on development of a new corporate position on global warming and on a related outreach and advocacy strategy;
• Counseling a multinational chemical manufacturing company on the company’s potential risks and emissions trading opportunities under the Kyoto Protocol;
• Successfully represented two electric power companies in litigation in 2008 regarding EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rule;
• Advising a cleantech company on potential impacts to its business of U.S. climate change policy;
• Represented owners of a waste-to-energy company in the sale of the company to a carbon fund;
• Provides regulatory counsel to a leading financial on carbon asset investments in the U.S.

Government Service

Special Assistant, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources, 1990-1992

Professional and Civic Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• Adjunct Faculty Member, American University School of Law
• Associate Editor, Carbon & Climate Law Review
• Communication & Newsletter Coordinator, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 2007-present
• Program Vice Chair, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Keystone Conference on Environmental Law, 2007
• Co-Chair, American Bar Association Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, 2001-2003

Publications

"The International Regime," in Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, American Bar Association (M. Gerrard ed. 2007).

“The Effect of the Kyoto Protocol on U.S. Companies,” Trends, Vol. 63(4) (March/April 2005).

“Greenhouse Gas Issues for Oil and Gas Companies,” 56th Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law, Publication 640, Release 56 (2005).

“Global Climate Change,” in Clean Air Handbook (D. Novello and R. Martineau, eds.), American Bar Association (2004).

“Designing a Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program for the U.S.,” Pew Center on Global Climate Change (2003) (with R. Nordhaus).

Articles

• Carbon taxes are fine, but a cap-and-trade program is better
• U.S. Energy and Climate Change Policy: What to Expect in 2009
• An Overview of the International Regime Addressing Climate Change
• Climate Change: The Heat Is On
• Designing a Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program for the U.S.
• Designing a Climate-Friendly Energy Policy

Speaking Engagements

• Carbon Counting 2009, May 13, 2009
• Navigating the American Carbon World, April 1, 2009
• Carbon Credits, March 6, 2009
• Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 12, 2009
• Carbon Trade and Finance Trends, June 13, 2008
• Global Warming II: How the law can best address climate change, June 6, 2008

News

• Van Ness Feldman’s Climate Change, Energy Practices Again Receive Top Rankings by Chambers USA 2009
• Van Ness Feldman's Kyle Danish Quoted in Carbon Finance on Offsets in the Waxman-Markey Bill
• VNF's Kyle Danish Quoted in a ClimateWire Article on Provisions in the House Climate Change Bill
• Van Ness Feldman's Kyle Danish Quoted in Point Carbon Article on New Offset Legislation Being Considered in Congress
• Van Ness Feldman's Kyle Danish Quoted in an Inside Counsel Magazine Article About the New EPA Administrator
• Van Ness Feldman's Kyle Danish Quoted in Inside Counsel Magazine on Vacating the Clean Air Interstate Rule of 2005