Energy
McKenna Long & Aldridge’s (MLA) Energy practice group consists of highly experienced attorneys and professionals dedicated to helping industrial and commercial energy consumers deal with escalating energy costs, while also preparing for a socially responsible future.
Combined with Luce Forward’s broad experience representing upstream and downstream energy industry participants in matters related to regulation of and transactions in the energy industry, MLA is clearly positioned at the forefront of legislative and regulatory efforts to restructure the natural gas and electric industries.
Our firm advises and represents end-use customers, suppliers, and marketers concerning their competitive service opportunities in an evolving energy industry structure. In the natural gas market, our energy lawyers are at the center of the California Public Utilities Commission's restructuring initiatives, including "unbundling" of utility services in order to enhance competition for all consumers. Our energy attorneys also are active in ongoing efforts to reform the electric industry, and we advise clients of risks and opportunities in the energy market.
Our clients include entities in various sectors of the industry: oil and gas, electric and gas utility services, independent power production, alternative energy providers, power and energy services, natural gas and electricity marketing, and major industrial and commercial consumers. The firm also has broad experience in international energy projects, finance, and representation of foreign governments.
As nationally renowned counsel to both commercial and industrial energy consumers, we provide value-added advice and counsel on the critical areas affecting energy including:
Cost Containment
We provide a unique and specialized service to energy consumers by assisting in the selection, negotiation, pricing, and drafting of natural gas and electricity purchase agreements.
- Energy pricing and purchasing strategies for both electricity and natural gas
- Contract negotiations and supplier selection
- Physical and financial hedging of natural gas and electricity, including consolidated and national strategies
- Analysis of utility rules, tariffs, and rates
- State PUC and FERC interventions
- Energy dispute resolution including mediation, arbitration, and litigation
Climate, Energy and Sustainability
Our team of nationally recognized energy, environment, and public affairs attorneys and professionals combine to provide our clients with both analysis and insight on federal, state, and international developments along with strategic advice and responses to climate and energy initiatives.
- Greenhouse gas emissions trading, including CDM’s and one-off’s under the Kyoto Protocols
- An assessment of renewal portfolio standards and responses
- Alternative and renewable energy projects, approaches, and options
- Corporate greening strategies, including green power purchases and carbon trades
- Demand response programs and conservation initiatives
Alternative Energy
We merge business and legal acumen to provide our clients with a full compliment of environmental, energy, and corporate services in this growing area.
- Alternative energy joint ventures and project finance
- Wind and solar energy, including projects, finance, tax incentives, and environmental impact
- Biofuels, waste-to-electricity, and biodiesel projects, involving both domestic and foreign ventures
- Alternative fuels contracts purchase and sales agreements
- Environmental and governmental strategies, including public-private partnerships
- Optimization of federal and state programs
- Foreign use of U.S. tax credits
- Business and financial structures
Strategic Counseling and Public Affairs
Our attorneys and public affairs professionals have extensive experience in all aspects of energy-related public policy.
- Congressional actions in energy, environment, and climate change including insight, analysis, and lobbying strategies
- Key state legislative and executive branch actions
- Federal and state regulatory proceedings
- State PUC proceedings
Regulatory Proceedings
Our attorneys have appeared as counsel in scores of proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state public utility commissions, and other federal and state agencies.
We have decades of experience in interpreting and applying principal federal statutes including the National Energy Act Statutes, Federal Power Act, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, and Energy Policy Act as well as numerous other federal and state statutes and regulations governing energy.
- Litigating complex rate cases
- Complaint proceedings
- Unbundling cases
- Ratemakings
Successes
- Designed innovative cost savings programs that help companies manage energy costs through strategic natural gas and electric purchasing and hedging strategies.
- Negotiated and drafted countless energy contracts and agreements with energy suppliers and utilities resulting in favorable terms and conditions to our clients.
- Represented dozens of industrial and commercial end-users in the Enron bankruptcy proceedings and arrived at financially beneficial settlement agreements that significantly reduced original contract costs.
- Advised a number of companies on innovative and leading responses to climate change initiatives.
- Represented solar, wind, fuel cell, and alternative energy producers and developers in environmental impact, contract negotiations, and project finance.
Representative Engagements
- Representing U.S. private sponsors in a U.S.-Central American joint venture company that is designing and implementing a vertically and horizontally integrated biofuel production operation that will own and operate all aspects of feedstock growth and supply, biofuel and byproduct processing and sales of biofuel product to the U.S. and Mexico.
- Advising U.S. sponsors on the feasibility and key legal and regulatory considerations of entering into equity joint ventures in Central America for financing, construction and operation of a $400 million co-generation plant and an ethanol plant.
- Advised an agency of a foreign government in the Near East in the process of being privatized with U.S. participation on obtaining $140 million in project financing from OPIC for the design, construction and operation of a new natural gas pipeline.
- Served as energy counsel to some 100 large industrial and commercial energy consumers, including steel, aluminum, cement, paper, automotive, food processors, and major manufacturing companies.
- Served as energy counsel to the government of Indonesia in Jakarta. Negotiations with independent power producers on power purchase and energy purchase agreements.
- Served as energy counsel on power purchase agreements relating to independent energy projects in Columbia, Brazil, Pakistan and Romania.
- Mid GA Co-Gen project. 1995. This was the first independent power project in Georgia, and was groundbreaking in significance. Before this time, all of the power projects built in the state were owned by utilities operating in the state. It is a co-generation facility built next to a large industrial plant (Frito-Lay) in the vicinity of Warner Robins, Ga. We handled the regulatory work at the public service commission as well as all of the real estate and tax incentive aspects of the transaction and the bond financing.
- 900 MW peaking facility, West Georgia, 1999. Our work for Tenaska involved real estate, tax incentive, and project finance. Extensive work was further undertaken on sales and use tax, including participation in securing an amendment to the state law to partially exempt purchases of gas used for generation of electricity from state sales and use tax.
- 1240 MW combined cycle facility Murray County Georgia 2001. This project for Duke Energy involved substantial litigation over the air permit as well as extensive real estate, bond financing, tax incentive and related efforts. This matter involved substantial negotiations with the county regarding the taxes to be imposed.
- 1050 MW combined cycle facility, Sandersville, Georgia, 2002. Also for Duke Energy, this project involved substantial negotiation over local tax incentives, real estate work and bond financing.
- 150 MW peaking facility. Baconton, Georgia, 2000-2002. This project was in effect two different projects with two different financing structures on the same site, and posed many unique and difficult issues, with MLA representing the ownership units. Documenting and financing two projects on the same site with different owners and different lenders required extensive negotiations and documentation. We were responsible for all aspects of this project, including all project documentation, including tolling agreement, power purchase agreements, and gas transportation agreements, all permitting, and all financing. We continue to represent both ownership units in ongoing issues in connection with the operations of the projects and the sales of capacity and energy there from.
Professionals
Advisories
- February 1, 2013Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the co-chairs of the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change, sent letters out to 300 leading U.S. companies and non-profit organizations soliciting views on climate change. Representative Waxman and Senator Whitehouse sent the letter to a broad cross-section of the business community, including large U.S. companies in the defense, oil and gas, retail, insurance, and manufacturing industries.
- October 1, 2012
- August 10, 2012The Army this week released its RFP for up to $7 billion in renewable energy purchases. This release finalizes the draft RFP issued in February, 2012 and makes important changes and clarifications. The RFP and the accompanying FAQ's reflect modifications to the draft in response to over 900 industry questions and comments.