Transportation

Our transportation experience includes:

• Serving as lead environmental counsel to the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation on a large-scale expansion and modernization of the Union Station site, the second busiest rail station in the Northeast corridor, working closely with over a dozen federal and local agencies, including project proponent Amtrak and the lead federal agency, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in preparing environmental and historic preservation documents as well as preparing for possible litigation once the FRA issues a Record of Decision.
• Defending a railway's proposed $250 million regional intermodal freight facility in Kansas against environmental group challenges under NEPA and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
• Serving as outside counsel on infrastructure policy and development for state departments of transportation and water commissions and metropolitan planning organizations.

Buildings

Our buildings experience includes:

• Securing a unanimous ruling for the State of North Dakota from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowing the design of a $250 million water treatment plant to proceed in which the court held that completion of the decision-making process under NEPA constitutes a changed circumstance under Rule 60(b)(5) where an injunction was issued based on a prior NEPA review that was found to be legally deficient.
• Obtaining local, state, and federal permits for a 600 ton per day materials recycling facility on a 40-acre property in Massachusetts, including an enclosed 80,000 square-foot processing building.
• Securing land use and environmental permits for the build-out of retail stores throughout Massachusetts on behalf of Fortune’s top-ranked food and drug company and one of the largest U.S. commercial banks.
• Obtaining approvals for the rental and sale of multi-family affordable housing projects and market-rate, single-family subdivisions in Massachusetts.

Energy & Natural Resources

Our energy and natural resources experience includes:

• Assisting with the successful permitting of an innovative transmission line installation providing power to New York City from a new 512 MW power plant in Bayonne, New Jersey.
• Advising an energy company in regulatory matters associated with a proposed new 750 MW power plant on Long Island, New York, including full support for the project’s environmental review, permits, and land use/zoning approvals.
• Counseling an energy company on all environmental issues associated with the siting, permitting, and operation of its multi-state pipelines nationwide, including strategies to avoid or minimize regulatory burdens under the CWA and Endangered Species Act (ESA).
• Defending royalty collection actions, brought by the Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue, against oil and gas producers on federal and tribal lands.
• Advising on all aspects of offshore oil and gas production from the initial leasing process to operations and decommissioning activities, and other regulatory compliance matters.
• Completing the NEPA process for a proposed molybdenum mine in Nevada—one of the first new federal major mining permits issued in many years.

Pipelines

Our pipelines experience includes:

• Representing a Pacific Northwest county in permitting, enforcement, litigation (including a CWA citizen suit), and negotiating Supplemental Environmental Projects arising from the construction of a 60-mile natural gas pipeline with almost 200 jurisdictional water and wetlands crossings, many of which were through habitat for ESA-listed salmonids.
• Assisting Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas operators with issues related to the decommissioning and abandonment of subsea pipelines.
• Representing midstream oil and gas companies on a range of environmental issues relating to pipeline siting, including identifying NEPA strategies, coordinating ESA compliance, evaluating CWA jurisdiction and permitting impacts to waters and wetlands, and coordinating with federal and state agencies to obtain all necessary permits and authorizations.
• Counseling midstream oil and gas companies on the development of multi-state habitat conservation plans under the ESA to obtain incidental take permits covering pipeline development, operation, and related activities.
• Drafting comments on proposed Bureau of Land Management rules regulating the acquisition and maintenance of pipeline rights-of-way on behalf of a natural gas pipeline trade association.