Facility Siting and Project Development
K&L Gates has helped to site, acquire property rights for, and develop some of the most complex public and private projects in the United States, ranging from energy generation facilities, transportation infrastructure, and wireless communications facilities, to port facilities, wastewater treatment plants, water reuse and conveyance systems, and regional landfills.
Drawing upon a highly experienced facility siting team, we help clients anticipate and avoid problems before they impede a project and, whenever possible, work to resolve existing problems before they result in litigation. When necessary, we forcefully but efficiently litigate problems that cannot otherwise be resolved.
In the energy sector, K&L Gates has represented numerous clients in the evaluation and acquisition of sites, and the financing, permitting and development of both utility-owned and independent power projects, including a series of waste-coal-fired facilities and numerous state-of-the-art 250 MW to 1100 MW combined cycle plants. In the past several years, our lawyers have been primary legal counsel for billions of dollars in project development efforts – many of them keyed to "fast-track" development schedules. Several of these projects have involved innovative redevelopment of "brownfield" sites, including utilization of state and federal processes to obtain required clearance with respect to possible contamination issues.
We have advised and represented clients in the development of electric transmission facilities, petroleum product and natural gas pipelines, and natural gas storage facilities, including an innovative rapid-delivery salt cavern gas storage facility in the Northeastern U.S.
In the alternative and renewable energy sectors, K&L Gates has participated in siting, property acquisition, development and financing for many wind, ethanol and other renewable energy projects in the Pacific Northwest, California, Texas and elsewhere in the Western United States.
We have provided advice to project developers on the full spectrum of project development and finance issues, working closely with clients to assess and mitigate project risks, acquire required property interests, obtain necessary government permits, prepare and negotiate project agreements and prepare and negotiate financing and security arrangements. K&L Gates’ lawyers have represented clients developing and financing projects in the United States, Europe and Asia. For many of these projects, we have served as both development counsel (handling a broad range of planning, real estate, land use, permitting and regulatory approval work) as well as long-term advisors in auditing and maintaining compliance with the myriad of laws and regulations governing the energy and utilities industries.
Project Finance
K&L Gates has extensive experience in U.S. and international project financings involving energy development, production and infrastructure facilities—for more information please see K&L Gates’ Project Finance Practice description. K&L Gates has represented clients in the financing of multiple independent power projects, ranging from large gas-fired facilities to wind and other renewable energy projects. K&L Gates regularly advises lenders and mezzanine investors in the financing and, in some cases, restructuring of project-financed energy facilities.
Our U.S.-based Public Finance Practice consistently ranks in the top 10 such practices in the United States in terms of dollar value of bond issues (Thomson Financial). K&L Gates has been involved in public financing of a wide variety of utility systems and energy projects. Our municipal finance lawyers have represented issuers and underwriters in numerous financing transactions, ranging in size from several million to more than a billion dollars each.
K&L Gates lawyers have also represented clients using financing provided or guaranteed by export-import banks and multilateral agencies, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Japanese Export-Import Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.
In both project and public finance, K&L Gates works to develop creative and effective approaches to structuring energy facility and utility financings. Our corporate and municipal tax lawyers routinely assist in structuring financing transactions in order to minimize the tax consequences to our clients.
Facility Construction
K&L Gates' Construction Practice lawyers regularly counsel clients on various aspects of the construction of power generation, water and wastewater facilities, and other major utility infrastructure facilities in the U.S. and Canada. We have negotiated and drafted major engineering, procurement and construction contracts and joint venture agreements on behalf of a wide variety of clients, including project owners, general contractors, subcontractors and engineers. Our lawyers have also represented parties before numerous tribunals in the U.S. in construction-related arbitration, litigation and other dispute resolution matters.
Facility Operations and Environmental Compliance
We represent energy and utility clients on the full range of issues concerning utility and energy facility operations and environmental compliance. We have represented public and private entities in connection with the development and long-term operation of hydroelectric, thermal, wind, and waste-to-energy generation facilities; transmission facilities; water and wastewater facilities; and gas and oil pipeline and production facilities. Beyond traditional permitting and compliance activities, K&L Gates has significant experience in the development and implementation of market-based environmental compliance programs, including the negotiation and consummation of transactions involving water quality and air emissions credit trading.
We take pride in forming teams that work collaboratively with clients over the long-term to meet the challenge of ongoing operations. As one example, we are engaged as convergence counsel for one of the largest power generation companies in the U.S., providing representation in regulatory, environmental, real estate, commercial contracting, tax, and litigation for an entire fleet of fossil fuel-fired power plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio.
Our practical approach to resolving operating, environmental and related challenges has facilitated the successful completion and continued operation of many projects. We help our clients earn public recognition for their civic responsibilities, while enabling them to achieve their business goals quickly and cost-effectively. For related information please visit our Environmental, Land Use and Natural Resources Practice page.
Mergers and Acquisitions/Asset Acquisitions and Divestitures
The energy and utility industries continue to experience significant restructuring, with asset and equity acquisitions and divestitures occurring frequently as energy and utility companies adopt new strategies and seek new opportunities, and as new participants enter the marketplace.
K&L Gates lawyers have represented numerous clients in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, including in the acquisition and development of electric generating companies, coal, gas and nuclear electric generating facilities and other utility facilities. We have represented both sellers and purchasers in auctions of entire energy companies and entire fleets of electric generating facilities (involving multiple transactions having values measured in billions of dollars) as well as in the negotiation and consummation of other utility asset transfers (such as one utility’s sale of its residential and commercial retail sales division with customers in five states).
We have represented industrial hosts or project developers in the acquisition and disposition of captive energy facilities located at pulp and paper facilities, municipal waste landfills, petrochemical facilities and other industrial facilities. We routinely advise private energy companies across the U.S. and internationally on a wide range of other corporate and securities matters. In addition, the firm has assisted various energy and utility clients in the formation of joint ventures, alliances and public/private partnerships.
Utility Regulation and Restructuring
K&L Gates represents a diverse group of investor-owned utility and public power utility clients, including gas, electric, water, sewer, transportation and telecommunications utilities. Our utility practice is highly varied, and includes the provision of general regulatory advice and advice on rulemakings, and representation of utilities in U.S. federal and state regulatory and litigation proceedings, including rate litigation, application proceedings, declaratory relief proceedings, complaint proceedings, and appellate litigation of rate and regulatory issues (including the production of amicus curiae advocacy materials in appellate courts). We have also represented clients in matters involving competition with other utilities and energy suppliers and litigation involving certificated service areas and issues of rates and service.
Deregulation, restructuring and competition have presented unique challenges to all segments of the public utility industry. K&L Gates has assisted utility clients in meeting these challenges through cost-effective representation that has helped clients meet their individual needs and goals.
Our services include advice on restructured utility operations, the sale and purchase of generating assets, and strategies for success in newly competitive areas of utility operations. We have assisted utility clients in diversifying their operations through acquisitions, geographic expansions and the development of ancillary services.
K&L Gates has broad experience in restructuring public and private utility entities. For example, the firm recently assisted a large investor-owned utility in formulating, obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for, and implementing a comprehensive corporate restructuring. As a result of our extensive municipal law experience, we have coordinated efforts around the United States to create or reorganize municipal utilities. We also represent public and private clients in forming entities to finance, construct, own, and operate particular utility facilities. In Alaska, for example, we helped establish a joint agency as the utility certified to operate a hydroelectric project. We also assisted the state’s largest municipality in studying the legal ramifications of mergers, acquisitions or other reorganization among various utilities.
Energy Sales and Purchases, Hedging Transactions and Other Commercial Transactions
On behalf of a wide range of clients, K&L Gates has negotiated and drafted numerous wholesale and retail electric power and natural gas purchase and sale, energy derivatives, electric transmission, interconnection, operation and maintenance, gas transportation, advanced billing, licensing, and other agreements. These contracts involve a wide range of transactions, including long-term and short-term capacity and energy purchases and sales, and water quality and air emissions credit trading, and also a wide variety of facilities, including fossil-fueled and renewable energy generating projects, gas production facilities, oil refineries, coal processing facilities, solid waste disposal facilities, telecommunications concerns, mineral leases and development rights.
Our clients in these transactions include investor-owned and public power utilities, independent power producers, power marketing companies, banks, investment banks, local distribution companies, wholesale and retail customers and telecommunications services providers (including providers that are unregulated affiliates of electric utilities).
Regional Transmission Organizations and Regional Energy Initiatives
K&L Gates has represented clients in connection with the formation and operation of U.S. regional transmission organizations, including the PJM Interconnection, the New York ISO, ISO New England, the Midwest ISO and the California ISO, and in connection with other regional initiatives such as the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Management System and the Western Interconnection Organization. The firm has participated in market reform and reorganization initiatives in several regions of the United States. In addition, K&L Gates has taken a leading role in forging multi-party contractual arrangements governing such facilities as the Four Dam Pool and Bradley Lake projects in Alaska and the mid-Columbia dams in Washington.
Energy Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Our Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation Practice lawyers have special experience in the application of antitrust laws and competition policy to regulated and recently deregulated industries, particularly in the energy, transportation, communications and solid waste industries. Several of our lawyers were formerly senior U.S. antitrust enforcement officials at the federal and state levels. The firm regularly represents clients in civil and criminal investigations and enforcement actions, transactional matters, and federal and state regulatory proceedings involving competition issues. We work closely with economists in the preparation of market power analyses for use in federal and state regulatory proceedings. K&L Gates also routinely represents clients in connection with related antitrust and trade regulation issues, including throughout the Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification review process, and, where required, responses to Civil Investigative Demands issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Energy Litigation and Administrative Matters
K&L Gates has represented clients in judicial and administrative proceedings involving a wide variety of issues, including challenges to market-based rate authority, controversies regarding regulated cost allocations and transmission rate design, breaches of long-term energy supply contracts, termination of purchase contracts with qualified facilities, disputes over pricing provisions of qualified facility power purchase contracts, disputes over rights to serve energy customers, oil and gas royalty disputes and coal bed methane and salt dome storage cavern disputes.
The firm regularly appears in proceedings before state utilities commissions in the Mid-Atlantic and the Western United States and before various federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Western Area Power Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.
We have recently been involved in proceedings concerning transmission access and pricing, generator interconnection rights, electric and natural gas rates, generation, transmission, pipeline, and communication facilities siting, competitive markets, municipal authority and franchising, rights-of-way, taxation, and various rulemakings. In addition, the firm has undertaken major litigation involving oil and gas taxes in the State of Alaska.
Perhaps as importantly, by working with clients at the earliest stages of proposed transactions and other business initiatives, K&L Gates has helped numerous clients avoid or curtail lengthy regulatory or judicial proceedings.
Energy and Utility Legislation and Policy Development
K&L Gates has been a key participant in developing state and federal legislation on energy, telecommunications, water and solid waste matters. Our Washington, D.C. office is widely recognized for its effectiveness on Capitol Hill. At the same time, the firm has guided clients through state legislative and administrative policy and regulatory development processes in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Michigan, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and other states.
K&L Gates has helped its energy clients achieve their objectives in numerous significant legislative proceedings, including proceedings involving stranded cost, retail open access and tax reform legislation. K&L Gates lawyers had substantial involvement in negotiating and drafting Pennsylvania’s retail electric restructuring legislation and regulations and the U.S. federal Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act. In addition, the efforts of our lawyers have strengthened the ability of public power utilities to obtain tax-exempt financing and have broadened the authority of such utilities to produce, purchase, and sell energy.
In the field of environmental regulation, K&L Gates lawyers have been actively involved in the development of renewable energy portfolio legislation, state assistance for innovative energy projects, and state regulations and policies relating to mercury emission control, water management and beneficial reuse of coal combustion byproducts.
Facility Tax Assessment Challenges
K&L Gates has been lead counsel in major litigation before regulatory bodies and state courts challenging state and local tax assessments on large power generating facilities. Such challenges have ranged from property tax assessments to real estate transfer tax matters. Working closely with specialized power plant appraisers, K&L Gates has developed and presented tax assessment challenges before applicable bodies and obtained significant tax reduction judgments and settlements for clients in this area. In various project development efforts, we have counseled project owners in structuring projects and pursuing special tax treatment arrangements, as well as obtaining favorable interpretations and rulings regarding exemptions from transfer, sales and use taxes.
Energy and Utilities Intellectual Property and Electronic Commerce
Beyond the “hard assets” of most utilities and energy companies are extremely valuable intellectual property assets – patents, trademarks, service marks, confidential business information, and the like. Protecting against infringement or dilution of those assets, as well as defending against patent and copyright infringement claims, are increasingly important concerns for energy and utility companies’ bottom lines.
At the same time, e-commerce is a rising force and challenge in energy and utility markets. The concerns of power and natural gas marketers, for example, change dramatically when they begin to offer online information or trading capability and software tools for managing use of the related systems.
K&L Gates' highly experienced Intellectual Property Practice has for decades represented some of the world's foremost information technology companies. Many of our clients were pioneers in the development and application of information technologies and remain at the forefront of sweeping technological changes, including electronic commerce, licensing of intellectual property and protection of property not protected by intellectual property laws. This long-standing association has required us not only to understand and work effectively with laws governing intellectual property and information, but also to develop the ability to apply our accumulated expertise and experience in a wide range of different industries, including the energy industry.
Our Energy and Utilities Practice, Intellectual Property Practice and Licensing and E-merging Commerce Practice are fully integrated, allowing us to provide clients with comprehensive, leading-edge legal advice addressing the entire range of emerging and converging issues and opportunities in energy, e-commerce, technology and intellectual property.
Industry Segments
Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Marketing
Our lawyers have been active across the spectrum of power generation, transmission and distribution facility development, construction, operation, finance, transactions, and litigation. Representing utility and generating companies literally from coast-to-coast, we are conversant in the myriad of issues and challenges facing the power generation and transmission sectors. Our work has encompassed efforts ranging from single project developments to fleets of generation assets, and from small to major national and international transactions.
Hydropower Development, Relicensing and Compliance
K&L Gates lawyers have had substantial involvement in numerous major FERC relicensing proceedings, negotiations and settlement agreements for hydropower projects. These include ongoing efforts to develop and relicense hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., advice concerning license compliance at various hydroelectric facilities; and advice on due diligence and license transfer matters.
K&L Gates lawyers have spearheaded the early and successful integration of relicensing obligations under the Federal Power Act with Endangered Species Act requirements, Clean Water Act requirements, tribal obligations and other federal and state environmental authorities. Our lawyers have advised clients and participated in negotiations with the National Marine Fisheries Service, state fish and wildlife departments, and tribal representatives in consultations on Endangered Species Act draft biological opinions to assure that the need for optimum hydropower production is balanced against sometimes uncertain biological data and changing legal mandates. K&L Gates lawyers have had substantial involvement in drafting and negotiating agreements among hydropower project owners for coordinated development, finance and operation of hydropower projects.
Wind Power
K&L Gates has assisted clients in the siting, permitting, development and financing of renewable energy facilities ranging from landfill gas and waste-coal fired power plants to wind power farms and innovative biofuels manufacturing facilities. K&L Gates has been active in more than 20 significant wind energy projects in Western United States, serving as counsel to developers, equity investors and construction and long-term lenders. We have experience in relevant real property purchasing and leasing, facility siting and permitting issues, unique environmental issues, construction and equipment purchase agreements, O&M and warranty agreements, construction and long-term financing documentation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other regulatory approvals, power sales and generator interconnection agreements, and tax and other issues related to equity investments in alternative energy projects.
Clean Technology & Alternative Energy
Innovative energy companies, emerging businesses and investors turn to our Clean Technology & Alternative Energy Group with their most important opportunities and challenges in new energy technologies, materials science and other clean technologies. Our clean technology practice encompasses such diverse renewable energy resources as hydrogen, solar, wind, geothermal, wave, ethanol, biodiesel, gas to diesel, coal gasification and various "Green Tech" technologies employed in industry to facilitate the production of clean energy, as well as fuel cell and other energy-storage technologies, distributed power systems, transmission and distribution system management and efficiency enhancements, and energy management software, sensors and other systems.
We know the clean energy marketplace, and we understand emerging businesses. We have helped develop, finance, site, permit and evaluate renewable energy projects for clients across the nation and internationally. We help emerging energy and technology companies form and organize, secure venture capital and other sources of financing, establish strategic alliances, engage in mergers and acquisitions transactions, commercialize their products through technology licensing and protect their intellectual property. Our Washington, D.C. team members have extensive experience in helping clients navigate through the policy and regulatory issues accompanying this rapidly expanding segment of the energy industry. Our attorneys also maintain relationships with a wide variety of venture capital firms, investment banks and other leading sources of capital for emerging alternative energy and clean technology companies.
Our clean technology and alternative energy practice draws upon the firm's strengths in the fields of renewable energy, intellectual property counseling and patents, technology transactions, venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and environmental and real estate law. Our broad and deep legal experience and multidisciplinary approach provide a solid foundation for clients in the clean technology and alternative energy sector.
For more on our Clean Technology and Alternative energy experience, click here.
Oil and Gas – Production and Transmission; Pipeline Siting
K&L Gates has for decades represented clients in oil and gas development and management issues. The firm has represented producers, trade associations, gathering systems, pipeline operators and distribution systems in a wide range of matters, including the following:
- We have represented major producers in litigation concerning the rights of mineral estate owners as against private surface owners, and the rights of oil and gas rights owners with respect to oil and gas well drilling in various contexts.
- K&L Gates has represented operators in a variety of litigation matters, including leasehold disputes, royalty payment issues, personal injury actions and challenges to attempts by municipalities to regulate oil and gas development. We have litigated precedent-setting cases concerning the validity and extent of oil and gas extraction and storage rights.
- We have negotiated numerous oil and gas leases, and represented sellers and purchasers in the preparation and negotiation of natural gas supply and transportation contracts.
- Our group has represented clients in regulatory proceedings – including proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Energy Board of Canada and state public utility commissions – on a host of issues affecting the natural gas industry.
- Particularly in the Pacific Northwest and Northeastern United States, we have extensive experience in securing rights of way and permits to site and construct interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines. We have represented interstate and intrastate pipeline operators in the development, permitting and construction of numerous gas storage facilities and transportation pipelines.
Natural Gas Storage
K&L Gates has counseled multiple natural gas storage projects through development and operating issues, ranging from use of traditional projects involving depleted geologic formations to innovative facilities. Storage of natural gas in salt dome caverns has become increasingly common in the natural gas industry, and K&L Gates has been active in this area. We provide environmental, regulatory and litigation services relating to some of the largest salt dome construction projects in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. We have litigated challenges to salt dome regulatory permits, preemption and jurisdictional issues related to salt dome storage construction, and issues involving the size and productivity of purchased salt dome caverns.
Liquefied Natural Gas Projects
K&L Gates has significant experience in matters relating to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. Our lawyers advise clients in connection with a variety of LNG and natural gas projects, including the development, construction and financing of, and division of joint capacity rights, in LNG reception and regasification facilities in the United States. We have likewise drafted and negotiated shipyard construction contracts and financing arrangements for LNG tankers, including guarantees provided by the U.S. Maritime Administration under MARAD's Title XI program, U.S. Coast Guard, Classification Society, and in insurance issues related to LNG tankers.
On the transactional side, K&L Gates lawyers draw upon their deep experience in power project development and finance to develop and apply risk mitigation strategies for LNG projects. K&L Gates lawyers have represented clients in involved in acquiring, developing, financing, and marketing energy from projects located in the United States, Europe and Asia, and therefore on issues directly affecting the economic viability of projects, including protections from political risks, foreign exchange risks and repatriation rights, local contracting and tax issues, permitting and approvals, and international arbitration and enforcement of arbitral awards. Our lawyers have also advised clients in connection with financing from multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, and from credit agencies, such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Japanese Export Import Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Coal Bed Methane
There are billions of tons of unmined coal containing high-quality methane gas reserves in the United States. The emerging development of coal bed methane extraction systems has raised novel legal issues involving lease rights, pipeline and other rights-of-way, and water table and well pollution matters, to name only a few. K&L Gates advises on major coal bed methane projects and has litigated numerous cutting-edge issues in this area.
Nuclear Power
K&L Gates represents a variety of participants of the nuclear power industry in a wide range of matters. We have represented nuclear power generators, nuclear fuel processing facilities, nuclear waste management facilities and other clients on matters relating to federal and state licensing, facility decontamination and decommissioning and radioactive waste management (including on-site containment, off-site disposal and cleanup of radioactive materials), and fuel purchase, storage and exchange transactions. Our work has included proceedings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and in state and federal nuclear legislative and other policy matters. We have also represented Department of Energy contractors, in the context of facilities such as national laboratories, environmental restoration/risk management sites, gaseous diffusion plants and defense program sites, in matters relating to Department of Energy regulation of nuclear materials. Those efforts have including advising on contractor self-assessments and audits with respect to Department of Energy nuclear safety rules compliance, radioactive and mixed waste management, environmental restoration, and radiation protection and risk management. K&L Gates has also represented numerous clients in radioactive material cleanup proceedings, and in litigation and regulatory proceedings involving personal injury, property damage, insurance coverage and other claims relating to radioactive releases and radioactive waste.
Telecommunications-Related Services
K&L Gates’ interdisciplinary Telecom, Media and Technology Practice serves the specialized needs of businesses, entrepreneurs, inventors and investors in the converging telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) sectors. Whether the subject area is distinctly regulatory, litigation, intellectual property or transactional, or (as is increasingly the case) an interdisciplinary hybrid of several practice areas, our knowledge and experience in the TMT sectors adds strategic value and efficiencies on which our clients depend. Our TMT lawyers, working with lawyers in the Energy and Utilities Practice, serve the unique telecom-related needs of the energy and utilities industries.
K&L Gates lawyers serve as the principal telecommunications counsel to a number of electric utilities across the United States. We advise several utilities on utility affiliate transactions involving fiber, the provision of services between affiliates, tower siting arrangements, and the joint development of intellectual property. K&L Gates lawyers have successfully prosecuted affiliate transaction cases before state utilities commissions, fending off challenges from consumers' counsel, industrial user groups, and utilities commission staff.
We handle a broad range of U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), commercial and transactional, policy, and antitrust matters for utility telecom providers. K&L Gates lawyers routinely advise local utilities, transmission organizations, and electric generating facility owners on matters relating to their FCC-licensed radio systems, whether in connection with transactions requiring FCC approval or in connection with other compliance-related matters. The firm has also done significant work in the area of Broadband Over Power Lines (BPL), and K&L Gates lawyers have authored a comprehensive three-part series , published in a leading industry publication, on the regulatory and legal issues applicable to BPL systems.
Water and Wastewater Services
K&L Gates currently represents both investor-owned and publicly owned water and wastewater utilities in regulatory and operational matters. Our services have included:
- representing public utility districts and municipalities in the formation and financing of local utility districts and local improvement districts, and in regulatory compliance matters;
- serving as counsel to investor-owned water and wastewater utilities in rate increase, certificate, securities, complaint and other regulatory proceedings before state public utility commissions;
- advising municipal authorities in obtaining financing from state finance agencies;
- representing a statewide association of public and private water and wastewater utilities on various legal and legislative matters; and
- representing municipal and private water companies in water systems acquisitions and operations and maintenance transactions.
K&L Gates’ Water Law Practice, working with the firm’s Energy and Utilities Practice, brings particular water law expertise to the service of water and wastewater entities. The Water Law Practice at K&L Gates is at the forefront of water law issues in both the Eastern and Western United States.
In the Western U.S., our lawyers provide a full range of legal services to utilities and assist clients in obtaining, amending and transferring water rights. We assist in obtaining permits for waste water discharge, use of reclaimed water and new sources of supply. We also address issues arising under the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and various laws and treaties relating to Native American water right and fishery resource claims. Our water law lawyers have assisted clients in complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act through creative financing, restructuring and regulatory solutions, and achieving municipal and private client goals through water reuse.
Similarly, in the Eastern U.S., K&L Gates lawyers have been highly active in working with industries and utilities in various state and regional water law reform efforts. We have actively represented individual water, energy and other utilities, as well as private developers and industries, in obtaining state and basin commission permits for groundwater and surface water withdrawals, wastewater treatment, reuse, and discharge projects. Over the past 15 years, we have counseled and represented entities engaged in some of the largest and most innovative public-private water and wastewater infrastructure development projects in the U.S.