COZEN O'CONNOR | The Confidence to Proceed

Energy, Environmental & Public Utilities

Peter J. Fontaine
Contact
(856) 910-5043
Ira G. Megdal
Contact
(856) 910-5007

Overview

The lawyers in our energy, environmental and public utility practice offer integrated public utility and environmental regulatory services to entities in the electricity, gas, water, real estate development, and manufacturing sectors. We provide clients with traditional legal services including environmental regulatory counseling, and litigation and utility rate making and business counseling and continue to expand our capabilities in emerging areas such as electric competition counseling, renewable energy siting, and market-based pollution trading counseling.

ENERGY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES

The operation of independent power, natural gas, water, and other public utilities increasingly depends on the ability to navigate a complex scheme of environmental constraints and market-based incentives. Our attorneys help public and municipal utilities, marketers of energy, and independent energy producers steer their way through the regulatory morass, at both state and federal levels. We also assist our public utility clients in containing disputes involving punitive damage claims, as well as employment practices situations. We help clients deal with rapid changes in today's challenging environment by providing sophisticated legal services including:

  • Corporate counseling including utility mergers and acquisitions, complex financial transactions, securities issuances, real estate transactions including zoning, planning and other land use matters, local licensing issues, and energy facility financing

  • Regulatory proceedings and litigation, including utility rate proceedings, cases tried before administrative agencies and trial and appellate courts, and hearings before state regulatory agencies

  • Energy facility permitting and siting for independent power plants, renewable energy and co-generation plants

  • Energy marketing and sales including the structuring and negotiation of sales and power purchase agreements


ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORY LAW

Our attorneys have substantive knowledge of environmental law, policy and science, and use this knowledge to find creative solutions to help clients effectively manage pollution issues before they become liabilities. We assist clients in every aspect of environmental law, including:

  • "Brownfield" redevelopment, including clean-up and re-use of contaminated manufacturing facilities and abandoned waste sites

  • Environmental litigation, including Superfund litigation, governmental enforcement defense litigation, private cleanup cost recovery litigation, white collar environmental criminal defense, National Environmental Policy Act litigation

  • Environmental regulatory counseling, including permitting and regulatory compliance assistance in areas of hazardous waste, air pollution control, water pollution control, toxic substances control, toxics in packaging, occupational safety and health

  • Environmental transactional work, including environmental due diligence and drafting environmental risk allocation language


WE HAVE THE EXPERIENCE

Our lawyers have more than 100 years of combined experience in dealing with energy, public utility, and environmental issues. We have handled a variety of matters before state and local regulatory agencies, including the FERC, the EPA and the SEC. We have litigated on behalf of corporations, developers, and public utilities in state and federal courts throughout the country. In short, we know both the regulatory arenas and the players. This knowledge coupled with our vigilance in staying on top of regulatory and climatic changes, enables us to help achieve our clients’ objectives.

WE HAVE THE KNOW-HOW

The lawyers in our group include a former chairman of the Public Utility Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, a former assistant U.S. attorney, a former Illinois assistant attorney general in charge of environmental matters, a former senior counsel to a major public utility company, two former lawyers for the EPA and the author of a leading treatise on punitive damages. Our lawyers speak on energy, environmental and public utility related issues and are frequently quoted as media sources related to these topics.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

We represent small, medium and large public utilities, manufacturers, municipalities, property developers, marketers and independent power producers. Our representative clients include: Coopers Ferry Development Association, Preferred Real Estate Investments, Camden Redevelopment Agency, D’Anastasio Corporation, South Jersey Industries, Inc. (South Jersey Gas Company), New Jersey-American Water Company, Inc., Conectiv, Atlantic City Sewerage Company, and Pennsgrove Water Supply Co., Inc.

REPRESENTATIVE ENGAGEMENTS

  • The “Nipper Building” project in Camden, N.J. - converted a 500,000 ft. heavy manufacturing facility into luxury apartments

  • The “Campbell’s Field” project in Camden, N.J. - remediated and redeveloped a contaminated riverfront site into a state-of-the-art minor league baseball stadium

  • The Allied Signal Site in Edgewater, N.J. - remediated and redeveloped former coal tar manufacturing site

  • Welsh Road Landfill Superfund litigation - defended four Pennsylvania municipalities in Superfund litigation concerning the cleanup of a landfill

  • Jack’s Creek Superfund Site - challenged U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service natural resource damage assessment

  • Toxic Tort - defended a manufacturer in a multimillion-dollar toxic tort lawsuit for medical monitoring brought by persons allegedly exposed to contaminated drinking water

  • Defended manufacturer in an EPA hazardous air pollutant enforcement action

  • The “Glassboro Landfill” project in Glassboro, N.J. - remediated and converted a closed municipal landfill into residential development

  • Challenged the issuance of a Clean Air Act Title V permit issued by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection

  • Challenged in the D.C. Circuit a Superfund National Priorities List determination

  • Helped a major electric power utility to construct a thin-film solar energy facility on an industrial landfill to provide electricity for a groundwater pumping and treatment system

  • Helped an energy company to site a major wind turbine facility

  • Performed environmental due diligence for a major specialty rubber and chemicals manufacturer

  • Helped a waste-to-energy facility to persuade the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection not to issue new nitrogen oxide regulations requiring a multimillion-dollar capital upgrade

  • Assisted a Pennsylvania citizens group to prevent the construction of a destructive highway through the pristine Brandywine Valley

  • Assisted a manufacturer to structure and conduct environmental, health and safety audits of all North American facilities

  • Advised a dye producing facility on compliance with the Toxic Substance Control Act

  • Represented public utilities and non-utility intervenors in more than 20 utility acquisitions and mergers at the state and federal levels

  • Litigated innumerable utility rate proceedings on behalf of public utilities and others

  • Assisted in developing an auction sale of an electric power plant

  • Negotiated agreements for the sale of thermal energy and construction of a thermal energy plant

  • Litigated the leading case in the United States defining what constitutes a "public utility"