Natural Resources and Water

Experienced Natural Resources and Water Lawyers

Attorneys

Stevens, Lawrence E.
Jensen, Dallin W.
de Lipkau, Ross E.
Bird, David R.
Tundermann, David W.
Rencher, Ronald L.
Kapaloski, Lee
Hull, Stephen J.
Wilson, John B.
Winmill, Patricia J.
Grimshaw, Randy M.
Barusch, Lawrence R.
Miller, Maxwell A.
Veasy, Paul D.
Lehman, Mark E.
Pos, Hal J.
Bailey, J. Michael
Ford, M. Lindsay
Butler, Jim B.
Malmquist, Michael J.
Kirschner, Lisa A.
Zody, Michael A.
Tomko, Michael J.
Angell, Richard J.
Baldwin, Vicki M.
McCarthy, Michael R.
Keller, Alysa M.
Zimmerman, John R.
Schulte, Elizabeth A.
Beard, Keli J.
Hill, Earl M.
Marshall, Robert W.

Parsons Behle & Latimer's Natural Resources practice is national and international in scope with particular emphasis on the western United States and Latin America. For several generations the firms attorneys have provided comprehensive services for a diverse natural resource clientele.

Several of the firms attorneys have provided counsel to, or served as staff of, state and federal agencies that regulate or litigate issues affecting our natural resource clients, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Justice, the Presidents Council on Environmental Quality, and the Utah Attorney Generals Office. During their government service, Parsons Behle & Latimer attorneys have drafted and implemented state and federal natural resource and environmental regulations and statutes, in addition to handling administrative and judicial appeals and other natural resource-related litigation and policy issues. Other of the firms attorneys have served as in-house counsel at major natural resource companies, gaining the perspective, experience and industry knowledge that comes uniquely from serving in that role.

By maintaining a team of attorneys with expertise in the transactional, regulatory, real property, environmental, energy, taxation, and other issues facing those who develop or utilize natural resources, Parsons Behle & Latimer ensures that it can provide virtually any legal services that might be required.

Appeals and Litigation

We represent natural resource clients in a broad range of administrative and judicial appeals and litigation before state and federal agencies and courts, including public land and federal lease disputes; NEPA appeals and litigation; private, federal and state royalty disputes; long term coal contract litigation; CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act appeals and litigation; insurance coverage claims; water right and mining claim disputes; and toxic tort actions.

Our attorneys have prosecuted or defended administrative appeals and tried or litigated cases on behalf of natural resource clients before numerous agencies and courts, including the Interior Board of Land Appeals, MMS and U.S. Forest Service Regional Offices; the Utah Boards of Oil, Gas & Mining, Air Quality, Solid and Hazardous Waste, and School and Institutional Trust Lands; state courts or agencies in Utah, Nevada, Montana, Washington, Missouri, South Dakota, and California; federal district courts in Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, and North Dakota; federal Courts of Appeal for the Tenth, Ninth, Eighth and D.C. Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.

Our attorneys also advocate on behalf of natural resource coalitions and trade associations, and recently filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the National Mining Association.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Mining

Parsons Behle & Latimer's mining lawyers provide comprehensive legal services to domestic and international companies that explore, mine, process and sell base and precious metals; coal; industrial minerals; and aggregates and cement. We assist clients with the drafting and negotiation of mining joint ventures, options and joint operating agreements, land and mineral leases, EPCM contracts, power supply contracts, smelting and refining contracts, sales and marketing agreements, and other business agreements. We advise clients with regard to mergers and acquisitions, the sale or acquisition of mining properties and processing facilities, and general corporate issues, both domestic and foreign. Our attorneys also perform due diligence, title opinions and offer mining claim advice and provide counsel on environmental liability, cleanup and reclamation issues.

We also assist clients in obtaining and defending the land use authorizations, water rights, environmental permits, and other authorizations needed to build and operate a modern mining or mineral processing project, whether in Utah, Nevada, Latin America, or elsewhere. In addition, we provide a full range of litigation services to our mining clients in state and federal courts.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Nuclear Materials

The firm provides permitting, compliance, decommissioning, closure and other regulatory advice to companies with active and inactive uranium milling and processing facilities in Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming. These facilities are regulated primarily under Title II of the federal Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act and, in Agreement States, under counterpart state regulations. Some of these facilities are in the process of final closure and transfer to the Department of Energy for long term maintenance and surveillance. We also provide advice regarding cleanup and removal actions at Title I sites. This work involves interaction with various federal and state agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Utah Division of Radiation Control.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Oil and Gas

We provide advice to a range of clients on oil and gas matters in the Rocky Mountain Region, including drafting, reviewing and negotiating leases, farm-in and farm-out agreements, operating agreements, pooling and unitization documents, and surface use agreements, performing title diligence in connection with drilling operations and the acquisition and financing of oil and gas properties or companies, and litigating various types of disputes. We also structure financing for oil and gas acquisition and development, and represent publicly traded oil and gas corporations on SEC and security related matters. In addition, we provide environmental advice and perform environmental diligence in a variety of oil and gas contexts. Our considerable experience with NEPA, the public land and mineral leasing laws, and federal and state land management agencies further contributes to the range of services we offer to oil and gas clients.

Representing a client in the acquisition of oil and gas lease rights covering 60,000 net mineral acres in San Juan County, Utah.
Drafting acquisition agreements for the purchase of oil and gas assets in Wyoming and Utah for stock, and preparing the stock distribution Registration Statement for shares with a registration value of over $103 million.
Representing an international oil and gas company in preparation of drilling contracts, master service agreements and related master contracts for exploration projects in the western United States.
Representing energy companies in successfully siting, permitting and developing interstate natural gas pipelines in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.
Conducting numerous title diligence projects, ranging from preparing drilling and acquisition title opinions for individual gas plays, conducting title reviews in connection with large asset secured corporate financing, and overseeing the title review of hundreds of leases in connection with a multi-state oil and gas acquisition project.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Project Permitting

Parsons Behle & Latimer has assisted clients in permitting a wide range of natural resource projects, including some of the largest and richest mines in the world; interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines; electrical power plants and transmission lines; and dams, water pipelines and well fields. With attorneys that specialize in the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, NEPA, FLPMA, and the Endangered Species Act (and their state counterparts), and who interact on a routine basis with the agencies that implement the permitting programs under these and similar laws, we are ideally suited to assist in obtaining the approvals necessary to site, build and operate modern natural resource projects.

By being members of the permitting team, our attorneys can also ensure that the best possible record is created in the event that project opponents file an appeal, which unfortunately has become an almost routine occurrence for significant natural resource projects. We regularly assist clients in the defense of their project permits, in both agency and judicial appeals, and have the experience and expertise to maximize the chances of a favorable outcome.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Public Lands

Most natural resource projects in the West require the use of federal or state public lands, either for the project itself or for the access or infrastructure necessary to bring water, power, or other utilities to or from the project. Our natural resource attorneys have extensive knowledge and experience with the public land and mining laws, including FLPMA, NFMA, the Forest Organic Act, the General Mining Law, and the Mineral Leasing Act, and work regularly with the agencies that implement these laws. We assist clients in obtaining rights-of-way, special use permits, leases and other authorizations to use public lands, and also with the exchange of private lands for federal or state lands or the outright purchase of public lands. We also review and comment on BLM and Forest Service resource management plans, and on regulations proposed by those agencies and by state land management agencies, which provide the framework for development of natural resource projects on federal and state lands.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Taxation

Our attorneys regularly provide tax advice to natural resource clients, both in regard to particular transactions and on an ongoing basis. We work to minimize our clients tax burden and to inform them of new tax laws and regulations as well as pending legislation. Our tax attorneys have litigated numerous tax cases; have participated in federal, state and local tax audits and negotiated tax settlements; and have drafted tax sensitive agreements and tax legislation. We also have a special expertise in advising clients and structuring transactions with respect to foreign taxation. Our attorneys provide advice regarding foreign tax credits, controlled foreign corporations, U.S. sourcing rules, tax treaties, permanent establishments, doing business issues, tax stability arrangements, foreign earned income exclusion, taxation of non-resident aliens, real property holding corporations and tax withholding. We have advised large and small firms around the country and overseas on these matters.

Attorneys focused on this area:

Transactions & Finance

Our attorneys have assisted natural resource and lender clients with both project and general corporate financing needs, including mine project financing, asset-based financing, leveraged financing, general corporate borrowing, finance restructuring, and financing due diligence. We provide these services for both domestic and international projects. For international projects, we assist our clients with meeting various World Bank and other applicable standards, with political risk insurance for both equity and debt components, and with various U.S. and foreign debt, repatriation and convertibility issues.

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Water Rights and Water Districts

Parsons Behle & Latimers water lawyers represent natural resource clients in acquiring and selling, proving beneficial use of, and changing the place or use of water rights in private transactions or before state and federal regulatory agencies and courts. They negotiate complex multi-party water transfers, both intrastate and interstate, including Federal and Indian water rights claims.

Our water lawyers have extensive experience obtaining intergovernmental permitting and licensing of water and power projects. While most of our work is done in Utah and Nevada, we have assisted clients with water rights matters in most states in the West. In addition to advising companies and individuals with regard to their water right needs, we represent a number of water districts, cities, state agencies and other governmental and quasi-governmental entities on water rights and related matters.

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