Gary D. Bachman

Gary Bachman represents a wide array of participants in the electric industry.  He is actively engaged in regulatory matters concerning corporate structure, contracts, tariffs, compliance, and reliability.  Gary has significant experience in litigation, finance, and transactional matters pertaining to electric utility operations.  He frequently advises developers in all aspects of project development, including ownership structure, regulatory treatment, permitting, siting, and the environmental and natural resource issues which often arise.  Gary’s clients are a diverse mix of investor-owned and municipal utilities, as well as independent generation and transmission developers, with interests in the electricity sector spanning from traditional fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydroelectric generation sources to emerging technologies, such as geothermal, solar and wind.  Select representative matters include:

• Assisting numerous clients with reliability compliance matters before FERC, NERC and Regional Reliability Entities, including: registration, employee awareness training, audit preparation and follow-up, compliance documentation, investigations, requests for interpretations of reliability standards, settlement negotiations, and appeals before NERC and FERC of alleged compliance violations.
• Providing regulatory counsel and strategic assistance to project developers of a number of proposed transmission lines to move location constrained renewable power.
• Lead Counsel of a group of utilities and power marketers in the multi-party Pacific Northwest litigation regarding California’s energy crisis.
• Successfully defended several firm clients in a FERC litigation proceeding filed by the State of California against allegations that sellers in California organized markets violated the Commission’s market-based rate quarterly reporting requirements.
• Representing an electric utility client in a FERC investigation regarding compliance with the Federal Power Act, the Commission’s regulations and the utility’s Open Access Transmission Tariff, which has since fully settled, following FERC’s issuance of an order approving the settlement.
• Crafted an innovative settlement involving renewable resource credits for a client involved in the California Refund Litigation, arising out of the California electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001.
• Crafted the initial settlement of the MISO/PJM seams elimination charge litigation on behalf of a Midwest investor owned utility.

Professional and Civic Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• Energy Bar Association

Honors & Distinctions

• Chambers USA; Energy: Electricity; 2005-2011

Speaking Engagements

• VNF Presents a Reliability Compliance Roundtable, June 14, 2011
• WPUI Institute Program: Contemporary Transmission Issues, May 26, 2010
• Energy in the Southwest, June 12, 2008

News

• Van Ness Feldman’s Electricity, Oil & Gas, Environment, Government Relations, Climate Change, Native American, Transportation Practices Receive National Recognition by Chambers USA 2011
• Van Ness Feldman’s Climate Change, Energy Practices Again Receive Top Rankings by Chambers USA 2010
• Van Ness Feldman's Gary Bachman Quoted in Article on FERC FP&L Settlement
• Van Ness Feldman’s Climate Change, Energy Practices Again Receive Top Rankings by Chambers USA 2009
• Van Ness Feldman Receives Top Rankings from Chambers USA 2008
• Nine Van Ness Feldman Lawyers Ranked in Chambers USA 2007