The attorneys of Stites & Harbison’s Environmental, Energy & Sustainability team provide comprehensive and sophisticated global regulatory compliance counseling, permitting, and litigation services from our 11 offices across six states. Our attorneys incorporate their prior agency experience, backgrounds in scientific and engineering fields, and industry knowledge when managing complex legal matters touching air, energy, water, waste, and sustainability. Our attorneys are trusted advisors and advocates who maintain strong relationships with local, state, and federal regulators and industry associations to help our clients achieve their goals. We understand and solve complex problems for the manufacturing, beverage alcohol, health care, agriculture, construction, energy, waste and recycling, real estate development, and financial industries. And, because we are a full-service law firm, our Environmental, Energy & Sustainability team can work hand-in-hand with our full suite of lawyers to ensure the entirety of your business needs are met.

Energy

Stites & Harbison has an active Energy practice and provides a broad spectrum of legal services related to the industry. From advising on the regulation of utility rates and services to prosecuting patents on electrical generating technology or negotiating and litigating power purchase or fuel supply agreements, the breadth of experience at the firm supports many facets of this vital industry.

Utilities. The utility business is complicated and requires specialized understanding and experience. The utility industry likewise is one of the most highly-regulated industries, and each state’s laws and regulatory framework are different. Whether you need legal representation in litigation, regulatory, or transactional matters, having an attorney that understands the utility business is crucial.

Our team has the specialized knowledge to guide clients through a wide array of utility-related legal matters. For example, our attorneys are part of a small bar who regularly advise on utility regulation and appear before the Kentucky Public Service Commission. Our experience includes general regulatory guidance and the representation of investor-owned utilities and others in rate adjustments, transfers of control, approvals to construct generation and transmission facilities, periodic reviews of resource plans and adjustment clauses, drafting and approval of special rate contracts, and administrative appeals.

Our attorneys work closely with clients to ensure that they are complying with the law and that all their legal needs are met effectively and efficiently.

Renewable Energy Development. Harnessing nature’s power has long been used for heating, transportation, lighting, and more; however, the expansion of renewable energy is massive today. The demand for clean power has created increased opportunities for renewable energy generation and distribution. Stites & Harbison attorneys have developed and maintain the necessary experience to guide and assist those involved in the renewable energy fields. Our representation includes energy suppliers, developers, investors, lenders, power purchasers, land owners, and manufacturers.

Our attorneys routinely work with clients in the solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass arenas managing everything from real estate, finance, tax, construction, regulatory, and environmental issues for renewable energy projects across the United States. Our project development experience includes site control, land use and permitting, power sales and purchases, tax equity financing, transmission, and construction.

Also, when necessary, we can call on our respected litigators to help resolve energy disputes related to construction agreements, operating agreements, natural resource leases, permitting issues, citizen suits, and more. Our litigation prowess can serve as a significant benefit to clients.

We strive to build practical solutions in all renewable energy representations. Our attorneys work closely with our clients' management and technical staffs to develop strategies that are both legally sound and consistent with our clients' goals and strategic business plans.

Sustainability

Stites & Harbison attorneys assist their corporate clients at every point on their sustainability journey. Our attorneys:

• Advise companies on meeting their renewable energy and carbon reduction goals;
• Provide counsel to clients to help ensure their supply chains are ethically sourced; and
• Routinely assist companies in making sure their sustainability reporting meets applicable standards.

Corporate Energy Sourcing. Our corporate energy sourcing attorneys have negotiated thousands of megawatts (MW) of corporate renewable energy power purchase agreements, on both the buy and sell side of the transactions. These transactions help our clients meet their sustainability goals and achieve a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace. Whether a corporate client seeks primarily to lower its energy costs, meet emissions reduction goals through the purchase of renewable energy, or minimize its exposure to volatile energy prices, we can help.

We have assisted clients with multiple types of power purchase agreements. Corporate purchasers with single large loads, such as data centers, that are able to satisfy the applicable regulatory requirements, may purchase the physical output of utility-scale renewable energy projects. Other corporate purchasers, with loads spread over multiple locations, may not be able to use the physical energy output of a single renewable energy project, and may therefore prefer to purchase the renewable energy attributes of a project under an alternate financially settled arrangement known as a virtual or synthetic power purchase agreement. Whatever form these power purchase transactions take, they are complex and require careful consideration of a wide range of issues, including potential regulation under the swaps provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) limitations on green claims related to the purchases.

Our team offers a deep understanding of commercial and regulatory issues associated with corporate renewable energy sourcing and work with our clients to ensure that their sustainability goals are met effectively and efficiently.

Ethical Supply Chain Management. For our clients with sustainability goals and complex, multilayered supply chains, monitoring suppliers for unethical behavior like environmental noncompliance, human trafficking, and forced labor can become a challenging task. Failing to foresee and counteract these risks can result in a damaged public perception and even criminal penalties. We help our client manage these risks though due diligence, compliance advice, and inclusion of specific contract provisions.

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. Companies with sustainability goals often make public the reporting of their compliance and the tracking of their sustainability goals in accordance with programs and guidelines set out by state or federal legislation, other governmental entities, and non-governmental organizations. We routinely assist clients in complying with standards set forth by the Global Reporting Initiative, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s “Green Guides,” the United Nations Global Compact Index, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and others.