Energy

Our energy lawyers develop customized legal and business strategies across the full spectrum of the electric utility universe (conventional, nuclear, renewable, and transmission) to help these businesses succeed in a sector undergoing rapid change. We understand that competitive markets and sector structures continue to evolve, that reliability issues and standards are top of mind, and that federal regulators have enhanced oversight and enforcement powers.

As they navigate the emerging opportunities, risks, and complexities of competition and regulation, our clients have access to a legal team capable of addressing commercial, transactional, regulatory, and litigation matters simultaneously. Our transactional lawyers advise on project development, financing, acquisition, and divestiture of companies and on projects of all sizes. Every transaction is supported across disciplines by our corporate, regulatory, tax, environmental, antitrust, and labor and employment lawyers. We help clients anticipate and negotiate complex regulatory issues in the areas of compliance and enforcement, audits and investigations, regional markets, reliability and cybersecurity, and corporate restructuring alternatives. While it is our goal to help clients avoid litigation wherever possible, our cross-office team collaborates to litigate high-stakes commercial and regulatory disputes in the major US and international venues.

Energy Regulation, Enforcement, and Compliance

In the United States, our sector-leading energy regulatory lawyers work with clients on federal and state regulation; compliance programs; audits, investigations, and enforcement actions; capacity and energy markets;  transmission structures; reliability and cybersecurity; and corporate restructuring alternatives. We routinely counsel clients with respect to federal and state regulatory approvals in connection with acquisitions, divestitures, changes in control, financings and other developments.  Our understanding of the evolving electric sector positions us to guide our clients' development of commercial, regulatory, and litigation strategies that address the emerging demands, risks, and complexities of the sector. 

Transmission

Morgan Lewis assists developers of new transmission facilities with financing and organizational structuring challenges, tax issues, federal and state regulatory requirements, and permitting challenges before a range of federal, state, and local authorities. We also handle complicated business, regulatory, and operational issues inherent in sales, spin-offs, and transfers of control to regional transmission operators of existing transmission facilities and systems.

Reliability

Our electric energy lawyers also represent clients in reliability-related investigations and audits. We assist clients in identifying compliance issues as well as help them resolve these issues quickly and efficiently. We represent clients on these matters before FERC, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the eight Regional Entities, including throughout the investigations that often follow bulk electric system disturbances.  Our lawyers have been involved in the creation and establishment of the reliability regime administered by NERC and, more recently, in the creation and establishment of the cybersecurity and physical security standards administered by NERC. We offer a full range of services including: shaping CIP Standards and NERC rules, defending compliance enforcement proceedings, providing compliance advice, advising on cybersecurity issues, conducting internal audits and compliance reviews, addressing reliability concerns unique to nuclear generators, and improving reliability awareness.

Energy Transactions

We blend our knowledge of the regulated electric business with experience in corporate, project finance, traditional and private funds, antitrust, employment, and other relevant specialties, advising clients as they evaluate existing business structures and explore the advantages of mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions and structures, including the divestiture or reorganization of assets.  We advise on technical diligence relating to power purchases and sales, regulatory compliance, fuel supply, and fuel transportation.  We also advise on regulatory structuring, special regulatory requirements applicable in bankruptcy and default situations, lawful avoidance of regulatory jurisdiction, energy investment regulatory matters, and energy project and investment portfolio management questions.  We regularly counsel private equity fund managers, advisers, and general and limited partners on regulatory structuring matters. In the last several years alone, Morgan Lewis energy lawyers have counseled transactions involving transmission development, expansion, and extension projects, and in substantially more than 150 merger, acquisition, divestiture, and related proceedings involving energy assets in every region of the country and in every electricity asset class.  Morgan Lewis lawyers also have been counsel to parties in most of the significant electricity and gas sector bankruptcies in the last decade.

Electric Power Litigation and Dispute Resolution

The Morgan Lewis global energy litigation service is a large and diverse legal team that includes former regulatory agency lawyers and lawyers serviced in courtroom and agency proceedings. We provide our energy sector clients with the ability to negotiate or litigate with precision. Our work for electric power sector participants includes international arbitrations, construction litigation, power purchase agreement and structured markets litigation, corporate investigations, whistleblower litigation, mergers and acquisitions litigation, government contracts litigation, environmental litigation and toxic torts, and shareholder and customer class action litigation.

Our market-leading nuclear service represents governments and businesses as they seize opportunity from the nuclear sector’s current worldwide renaissance. Working in collaboration across our global offices, we assist our clients with the full spectrum of regulatory, litigation, and transactional needs.

Our lawyers are versed in US and international requirements covering new plants, power plant projects and transactions, plant regulation, nuclear liability issues, and all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining, enrichment, fabrication, and transport to nuclear waste management, decommissioning, and disposal.

When high-stakes lawsuits arise, our litigation team employs in-depth knowledge of nuclear regulatory issues, technology, and sector services to steer our clients to a quick resolution with limited cost.

Our business, corporate, and transactional lawyers focus on enabling our clients to optimize and realize the full value of their nuclear assets through a range of commercial transactions and related tax, antitrust, and complex labor and employment matters.

New Plants

Morgan Lewis is helping a number of governments and businesses position themselves to take full advantage of the growing demand for nuclear services. We helped obtain the first design certification, the first early site permit (ESP), and the first combined operating license (COL) ever issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).  We subsequently have assisted other applicants in obtaining additional ESPs and COLs, and we continue to assist the first COL holders with legal and regulatory issues during the construction of new nuclear plants in the United States.  Our lawyers are also assisting in reinitiating the licensing of formerly deferred plants.  In the UK, we assisted in the successful application for the first nuclear site license. We also help clients in developing nuclear countries to establish and comply with the legal and regulatory framework for nuclear projects, as well as advise on issues of site selection and characterization, licensing and permitting, transport of nuclear material, developing policies, and strategies and compliance procedures.

Nuclear Regulation, Enforcement, and Compliance

Even as Morgan Lewis assists the sector in preparing for new power plants, intrusive regulation of current plants continues. We counsel nuclear utilities on every aspect of nuclear licensing, regulation, and related investigation and enforcement matters. We offer guidance to nuclear clients in their efforts to recover from regulatory-imposed shutdowns and negative ratings from regulators. Our lawyers frequently assist in the defense and conduct of investigations and in the development of comprehensive recovery plans for utilities that confront major regulatory performance issues.

We also represent clients in the area of license renewal. We have played an active role in sector activities related to license renewal for more than 20 years, and our broad sector involvement informs license renewal strategies tailored to individual clients. To date, Morgan Lewis lawyers have represented more than half of all license renewal applicants in the United States in the regulatory, environmental permitting, agency adjudicatory, and federal litigation arenas.

We also participate—on behalf of utility clients and sector trade associations—in rulemakings and interactions with regulatory authorities on a range of generic issues, including such matters as decommissioning criteria, maintenance requirements, enforcement policy, reactor oversight processes, financial qualifications, foreign ownership, and export controls. These interactions allow us to provide our clients with critical "real-time" insight into evolving government policy and regulatory initiatives.

Enrichment and Fuel Cycle

Morgan Lewis represents a large and diverse group of domestic and international companies in virtually every segment of the nuclear fuel business, from uranium recovery through enrichment to the manufacture and transport of finished fuel products. We also represent manufacturing companies, as well as healthcare and academic institutions, that use radioactive materials and are subject to regulation.

We represent uranium enrichment companies in the United States and have assisted companies in obtaining the necessary NRC licenses for these activities.  We also represent fabricators of nuclear fuel on a range of domestic and international regulatory issues affecting their manufacturing and sales operations, including the only planned mixed-oxide fuel fabricator. Similar services have been provided by Morgan Lewis to several major European suppliers of nuclear fuel, enrichment, and related services.

Nuclear Waste Management and Decommissioning

Morgan Lewis has successfully handled some of the sector's most challenging radioactive waste management, decontamination, and decommissioning issues. We counsel clients regarding the financial assurance requirements for decommissioning liabilities and the management and tax treatment of decommissioning trust funds. We assist these clients in developing decontamination and decommissioning plans, and provide advice on governmental standards for radiological contamination and other licensing issues.

In 2007, Morgan Lewis was selected as lead regulatory counsel to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in its application for a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

We are also well placed to assist international clients in the UK decommissioning market. Our lawyers were closely involved with the reorganization of the sector following the enactment of the Energy Act in 2004 and the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2005.  We have a good working knowledge of the regulatory constraints in the NDA market and are fully conversant in the terms of the management and operation contracts in place with each of the site license companies and their related parent body agreements.

Nuclear-Related Employment Issues

Morgan Lewis represents businesses in investigations involving claims of wrongdoing and defends our corporate clients, as well as their employees, in multiple forums, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the NRC, the DOE, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and state and federal courts. We investigate and defend such claims on behalf of many nuclear utilities and vendors across the nation. We have integrated the firm's litigation, white-collar defense, nuclear regulatory, and labor and employment law capabilities to provide effective defenses in "whistleblower" claims and related investigations.  We also work closely with our OSHA team to assist our nuclear power sector clients in a wide variety of workplace safety and health issues, including handling agency investigations and enforcement actions and internal investigations, as well as compliance matters including issues involving safety culture and safety management. We also have experience in assisting our nuclear sector clients in navigating the different (and sometimes overlapping) enforcement authority of OSHA and the NRC in connection with workplace enforcement inspections.   

We also counsel clients on reengineering and downsizing programs to help ensure compliance with laws that guarantee employees the right to raise safety concerns and to assist clients in developing management systems and training for responding to employee concerns. To minimize client exposure to such claims, the firm performs Safety Conscious Work Environment assessments and provides extensive counseling on the development of effective Employee Concerns Programs.

We provide management training designed to equip managers and supervisors with the basic tools and practical knowledge to detect and prevent retaliatory situations. Thousands of managers and executives within the nuclear sector, including those at numerous nuclear utilities, DOE prime contractors, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators, and the DOE itself, have received this training.

DOE Contractor Nuclear Operations

In addition to representing clients in the commercial nuclear power sector, Morgan Lewis assists the DOE's largest contractors in an array of complex legal, regulatory, contractual, and operational issues, among them labor, employment, wage-hour, and employee benefits counseling; government contracts; environmental regulation; Price-Anderson enforcement support; and nuclear indemnity and liability matters.

Nuclear Litigation

Our litigators prosecute and defend some of the most far-reaching nuclear litigation in the United States. Our efforts representing US nuclear sector clients in damage claims against the federal government related to spent nuclear fuel disposal have led to multiple judgments in excess of $100 million in contested trials. We have also negotiated groundbreaking settlements yielding hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. Our mass tort litigation and nuclear energy litigation teams represent companies facing radiation contamination, radiation exposure, personal injury, and property damage claims. We also litigate cases involving the diminution of property values allegedly stemming from nuclear power plant operations, nuclear fuel processing plants, uranium production, storage of nuclear waste, radium products, atomic weapons testing, and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). In addition to our work drafting contracts for construction projects, our lawyers also manage complex litigation that may arise as a result of a project.

Nuclear Transactions

We represent companies in the acquisition and sale of nuclear facilities—including cross-border transactions—and in the reorganization of nuclear assets through the formation of operating and generating companies.

With a solid command of the regulatory and commercial considerations impacting commercial transactions, our lawyers assist clients with the transfer of licenses under the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, and with matters related to various import/export regulations and international treaties and conventions. We also focus on the resolution of specialized tax problems, as well as questions centered on antitrust, insurance, and employment and labor matters. Knowledgeable about the unique challenges associated with a nuclear workforce, including “deemed exports” of nuclear technology, our immigration team stands ready to handle the most sophisticated global workforce matters for our multinational clients.

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction

We are active in negotiating engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts on behalf of new plants and other complex energy infrastructure projects around the world. With a firm grasp of both the regulatory and commercial issues involved, our integrated team of energy and commercial lawyers negotiates such contracts in the United States and also on behalf of multinational corporations. Our lawyers regularly draft and negotiate EPC agreements, EPC management and project management agreements, front end engineering and design agreements, engineering services agreements, technology and process licenses, equipment supply and construction agreements, and fuel supply and offtake agreements. We also advise clients on relevant import/export controls of nuclear material and technology transfer under the DOE’s Part 810 regulations.

Our global oil & gas practice has a long resume of multibillion-dollar transactions, often involving multinational investment, first-in-country or sector undertakings, or novel structures. These sophisticated and cutting-edge deals on six continents encompass the development, financing, acquisition, and divestiture of assets in:

• Upstream oil and gas (including conventional and shale, tight gas, coalbed methane, and other unconventional resources, both onshore and offshore),
• Midstream oil and gas (including LNG, pipeline, storage, and other infrastructure), and
• Downstream oil and gas (including petrochemical, refining, and retail operations).

We also assist clients in joint ventures, private placements, public listings and other methods of monetization. Every major transaction is supported across disciplines by our corporate, regulatory, tax, environmental (including climate change), antitrust, compliance (anti-corruption, trade sanctions, etc.), and labor and employment lawyers.

The firm’s clients in these transactions include integrated oil companies, state-owned entities, independent exploration and production companies, LNG developers, traders and importers, private equity funds, lenders, contractors, regulated gas utilities, refiners and retailers, marketers, natural gas storage developers, pipeline companies, gatherers, natural gas processors, distribution companies, and end users, among others.

Our broad contacts and deep knowledge of sector service come from, among other things, having chaired or served as drafting committee members for the Association of the International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) 1995, 2002, and 2012 Model Form International Operating Agreements; the 2006 Model Form Unitization and Unit Operating Agreement; and the 1992 Study and Bid Group Agreement.

We regularly negotiate and draft documents for client oil and gas projects in a number of languages, including English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Project Development and Finance

We represent all types of project participants, including sponsors, private equity investors, governments, offtakers (including utilities), and financial institutions.  Lawyers on our team handle transactions in both mature and emerging markets, including work with export credit agencies and multilateral lending institutions, and we understand the different approaches that must be adopted.  We work with our clients to ensure the suite of documents on any project operates effectively together and that risk is allocated in an appropriate manner. Our experience includes advising on joint venture agreements (both incorporated and unincorporated); Front End Engineering Design and engineering, procurement, and construction contracts; technology licensing agreements; tolling agreements; feedstock/fuel supply contracts; offtake contracts (including crude oil, gas, product, and LNG sales contracts); transportation agreements; and operating and maintenance agreements, as well as the full complement of debt and equity financing documentation.

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Joint Ventures

We represent clients in mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures throughout the energy sector and across the globe.  Our clients range from the largest integrated energy companies to independent or “junior” oil and gas companies. We have experience, on both the buyer side and seller side, with single and multistage auction sales as well as negotiated sales. Our work includes major public company mergers as well as small single-asset acquisitions and disposals. Our scale means we can quickly assemble one of our deal-specific teams, which regularly work together and include lawyers who advise on the full range of specialist issues, including environmental, antitrust, CFIUS and other foreign investment laws, securities, finance, real estate, energy regulation, litigation, labor and employment, employee benefits, and executive compensation matters.  As needed by our clients, our tax team reviews proposed structures for the most tax advantageous arrangements, including in the US like-kind exchanges and mixing-bowl structures, and our employee benefits team assists with transitioning personnel in a reasonable manner while structuring cost allocations favorable to our client.  In cross-border transactions, we frequently review multijurisdictional antitrust and foreign investment requirements and, if applicable, conduct filings on behalf of our clients.  We offer a full range of due diligence capabilities, including contracts, oil and gas, real estate, environmental, litigation, and others as applicable.

Regulation

Morgan Lewis also has experience in energy regulation. In the United States, this includes experience in natural gas compliance and enforcement matters (including Federal Energy Regulatory (FERC), Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and state agencies) and administrative and appellate litigation relating to rates, terms, and conditions of service. Morgan Lewis also helps clients considering an acquisition.  We provide a risk assessment, determine how best to handle the risks identified, and help clients factor remaining risks into the final offer. We also help clients integrate the separate entities’ compliance programs by reviewing the relevant programs. 

Oil and gas clients using radioactive or nuclear byproduct material in field equipment (e.g., industrial radiography, level detectors, flow meters, densitometers, well logging, moisture density gauges, and similar equipment) also benefit from our counsel on NRC and Agreement State regulatory issues. We assist clients with licensing, license transfers, regulatory reporting and compliance, security and transport, nuclear antiretaliation laws and policies (including safety conscious work environment issues), decommissioning, internal and government investigations, and enforcement actions.

Oil and Gas Litigation and Dispute Resolution

The Morgan Lewis global oil and gas litigation practice is a large and diverse legal team that includes litigators, international arbitrators, and environmental specialists. We provide our energy sector clients with the ability to negotiate or litigate with precision. Our work for oil and gas sector participants includes international arbitrations, construction litigation, regulatory and enforcement litigation (including acting before FERC, CFTC, the SEC, the DOJ and other key US agencies), corporate investigations, whistleblower litigation, mergers and acquisitions litigation, government contracts litigation, environmental litigation, and toxic torts.  The subject matter of these disputes ranges from groundwater contamination claims to royalty and lease title disputes to major bet-the-company enforcement proceedings (including Deepwater Horizon).

We regularly assist our clients with developing, operating, and managing energy storage projects around the globe. We have advised on the development, financing, acquisition, and construction of numerous electric energy storage projects, including flow and lithium-ion batteries, pumped-hydro storage, behind-the-meter, and in-front-of-the-meter energy storage, as well as stand-alone energy storage and energy storage coupled with solar, wind, or gas-fired generation.

Our practice includes some of the most experienced lawyers in the industry who understand energy storage on technical, commercial, and business levels. We know how expanding markets for energy storage are creating new opportunities in the United States and around the world. Our global team of lawyers assists clients with all aspects of energy storage development, construction, and financing, as well as the acquisition and disposition of storage companies and assets.

Public awareness and investor interest in climate change, energy conservation, and life cycle impacts are driving a wave of corporate sustainability goals and business models. Companies committed to reducing environmental impacts and pursuing opportunities in the new energy paradigm rely on our corporate sustainability lawyers to navigate the legal, technical, commercial, and business challenges of evolving energy regulations and markets.

Our multidisciplinary team—comprising more than 100 transactional and regulatory lawyers—has a command of the issues our clients face when advancing bold and forward-thinking sustainability initiatives and implementation plans. We employ a multifaceted approach to address environmental impacts and help companies procure renewable energy, reduce emissions, increase efficiency, and achieve sustainability goals.

OUR SCOPE

Our team has an extensive background serving clients in a broad range of industries, helping to develop powerful-yet-practical sustainability strategies that deliver cost-effective results in the following areas, among others:

• Power purchase agreements
• Renewable energy project development, purchase, sale, and financing
• Renewable energy credit procurement
• Distributed generation
• Real estate and land use agreements, including green building issues and contract negotiation
• Commercial agreements for energy-efficiency retrofits and
• energy-management systems
• Permitting and environmental compliance
• Demand response programs for maximizing energy reduction
• Waste and recycling requirements, including sustainable management of industrial materials and consumer waste
• Regulatory compliance, including climate-related disclosures and marketing
• Energy-related tax issues and tax equity investments
• Equipment contracts
• Intellectual property

RENEWABLE ENERGY

We regularly advise project developers, owners, investors, and energy purchasers during all stages of project development, acquisition, financing, and ongoing operations, as well as on novel issues under federal and state regulations. Our experience includes negotiating virtual power purchase agreements and master agreements for the development of distributed solar systems at corporate facilities and deployment of energy storage and other distributed resources.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY & GREEN BUILDINGS

Our lawyers are knowledgeable in the range of matters relating to green building and sustainable development, including green leasing and issues relating to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. We have negotiated leasing provisions addressing energy efficiency retrofits and LEED compliance, advised on energy efficiency incentives and demand response programs, and worked with clients entering into agreements for energy-building management systems across multiple facilities.

Morgan Lewis lawyers help utilities, project developers, investors, energy service providers, and commercial energy users pursue the increasing opportunities created by new energy policies and technologies and meet evolving regulatory requirements.

New and mature companies alike call upon our lawyers in the United States and throughout the world for advice on:

• Renewable energy project development and the negotiation of power purchase agreements
• Purchase, sale, and financing of renewable energy projects
• Development and integration of distributed generation
• Renewable energy credit procurement
• Commercial agreements for energy-efficiency retrofits and energy-management systems
• Demand response programs for maximizing value in energy reductions
• Regulatory compliance, including utility energy-efficiency programs, securities laws, and climate-related disclosures
• Permitting and environmental issues
• Real estate and land use, including green building issues
• Understanding and reducing environmental impacts

Solar

Our solar energy clients range from utilities and independent power producers to investors, developers, and retail customers. Our lawyers have experience in the technical, commercial, and business aspects of solar energy. This background helps us explore new opportunities in the expanding solar energy markets in the United States and internationally.

Our lawyers provide strategic counseling to solar energy project developers. We advise clients on power purchase agreements, equipment purchase and sale agreements, real estate and permitting (including US federal lands and environmental compliance), transmission access, and interconnection agreements. Our work with investors in utility-scale and distributed solar project portfolios includes customized diligence and comprehensive corporate advice.

We advised several leading utilities on their first procurements of solar energy and solar energy credits. Our lawyers counseled on many issues of first impression under renewable portfolio standards and now advise on evolving rules governing distributed generation, energy efficiency, and demand response. For solar equipment manufacturers, we design solar equipment supply agreements and warranty programs for both utility scale and rooftop projects. For retail customers that plan to invest in distributed generation, we advise on negotiating power purchase agreements and energy savings agreements as well as the overall benefits and risks associated with developing energy technologies and markets.

Wind

Our lawyers are involved in the legal, regulatory, and business undertakings and leading transactions that shape the wind energy industry. We represent developers of generation and transmission projects, equipment manufacturers, financiers, and power purchasers. Our lawyers advise clients on mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions. We also counsel clients on the legal aspects of wind turbine technology development, manufacturing, and sales. Our completed projects total more than $7 billion in financings.

Morgan Lewis lawyers have experience in wind engineering, procurement, installation, and construction contracts; turbine purchase and sale agreements; warranty agreements; operations and maintenance agreements; power purchase contracts; and interconnection agreements. Our lawyers advise wind energy clients on wind park easements, ground leases, rights over federal and state lands, transmission rights of way, and other land use and acquisition matters. We secure necessary permits from local, state, and federal agencies, and we make sure our clients remain in compliance with environmental and land-use laws. Our litigators are available to counsel with and handle disputes if the need arises.

A power generation method with ancient origins, hydropower has seen a wave of advances and innovation in the modern era—accompanied by increased regulation for companies operating in the hydro space. Morgan Lewis represents companies at every stage in the hydropower project regulatory life cycle—from licensing and relicensing, through compliance, to decommissioning. Our market-leading energy and environmental teams comprise lawyers with years of demonstrated experience in the financing, development, and sale of electric plants.

Our seasoned practitioners provide counsel on the full range of regulatory, transactional, and finance issues facing hydropower project owners and investors. Our breadth of energy industry experience allows us to provide clients with astute, responsive advice on licensing and relicensing the full range of hydropower projects under Part I of the Federal Power Act—including run-of-river, diversion, peaking, pumped storage, and conduit projects.

We strive to help clients swiftly attain building rights with reasonable conditions and without litigation. Our lawyers assist companies in obtaining project approvals from all levels of the US government, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), state utility commissions, and federal and state environmental agencies.

Our counseling also extends to the business side of hydropower operations by assisting companies with financing and developing new projects as well as buying and selling existing, licensed projects.

LICENSING & RELICENSING

We advise clients through each step of the licensing and relicensing process—from process selection (or the availability of licensing exemptions) to the FERC order granting the license. We advise clients in obtaining land use and zoning approvals for development on private and publicly owned lands, as well as in securing permits from federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management. We also assist clients in the related area of environmental law as it pertains to water quality and rights. In addition, our lawyers regularly represent clients on the growing importance of hydropower as a renewable resource integrator, with a particular emphasis on pumped hydro storage.

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE & DAM SAFETY

Once a project is licensed and operating, we counsel hydropower licensees on day-to-day regulatory compliance and dam safety, market operations, and environmental compliance issues that come with owning and operating a hydropower plant. This includes helping design and implement programs for compliance with license requirements, developing mandatory FERC compliance filing submissions, counseling on FERC staff-led site inspections, responding to regulatory allegations of noncompliance, and conducting internal investigations for company-identified instances of potential noncompliance.

DECOMMISSIONING

Morgan Lewis advises clients on surrendering hydropower licenses, including the development of decommissioning plans for submission to FERC and the resolution of any public land or environmental issues before surrender becomes effective.

The water supply sector is undergoing dramatic structural change fueled by a greater focus on replacing aging infrastructure, meeting evolving drinking water standards, and developing new supply sources. Morgan Lewis offers businesses involved in the water supply sector comprehensive legal support—from matters involving transactions, water utility securities, and regulatory issues (economic and environmental) to sector-specific labor and employment matters.

Morgan Lewis represents an array of water sector clients, including investor-owned companies, municipal water systems, and both domestic and overseas corporations involved in outbound and inbound investment. Our experience includes some of the largest water utility mergers and acquisitions in recent years, including a $400 million purchase of water utility assets and a merger requiring the regulatory approval of 11 states.

Our lawyers also represent investor-owned companies, municipalities, and financial institutions in the issuance of water utility securities. In addition, our team has helped two publicly traded water companies develop innovative customer stock purchase plans.  In the economic regulation arena, Morgan Lewis lawyers have represented investor- and municipality-owned entities in all aspects of rate application, complaint, and rulemaking for more than 50 years.