Jackson Walker attorneys Michael J. Nasi, Meghan E. Griffiths, and Brandon Durrett presented on the latest rules, regulations, and legislation impacting the gas and power industry at the Gas and Power Institute held on October 27, 2023.
Jackson Walker proudly served as a sponsor for the conference. For more information about the conference, visit the UT Law CLE website.
“EPA’s Latest Grid-Impacting Regulations”
During this program, Mike Nasi discussed the pending EPA regulations most likely to impact the grid, including a discussion of the new regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants.
Mike is the founder and Chair of Jackson Walker’s Climate Change & Carbon Management group and is also active in the environmental and energy practice areas. His practice spans across numerous federal and related state environmental and utility regulatory programs with a focus on environmental and utility regulatory counseling and litigation for the power sector as well as project development incentives and power market reforms.
Mike has been an expert witness and speaker at hearings, energy policy events, and classrooms across the country, including the White House and the United Nations, and is published in several trade, law, and business journals on environmental and energy law. He participates on advisory boards or as counsel for several state and regional energy research initiatives including the Wyoming Energy Agency, North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) Foundation Board, the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), the Energy Council, and the University of Houston Center for Carbon Management in Energy (CCME).
“Practical and Policy Implications of ERCOT’s New Large Load Interconnection Process”
Meghan moderated this panel discussion on the updated regulatory requirements and policy implications of ERCOT instituting a new large load interconnection process that impacts both crypto-miners and traditional large loads. This discussion also covered the various ERCOT market matters impacting large flexible loads. This panel also featured Jeff Billo (Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc.), Clayton Greer (Cholla Energy, LLC), and Brian Lloyd (Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC).
Meghan serves as an advisor and advocate in complex project development, commercial, litigation, and regulatory matters, most often to clients in the energy and electric power sector or to clients with significant energy and infrastructure needs. Her power industry clients span the sector, including developers and owners of renewable and thermal generation, electric utilities, utility investors, and retail electric providers. She also represents large power users in varied industries such as data centers, manufacturers, refineries, oil and gas companies, and commercial developers.
She also counsels and advocates for clients on state regulatory and wholesale power market rules and protocols involving independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs) such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).
“Post-Production Cost Deductions from Royalty and Why it Matters to the Midstream Sector”
In this program, Brandon discussed the legal arms race between upstream operators and royalty owners over deductibility of post-production costs. This topic also addressed recent Texas case law and how the terms and negotiation of production marketing agreements can affect the deductibility question.
Brandon is a board-certified oil and gas attorney focused on acquisitions and dispositions, commercial industry agreements, and complex disputes over upstream and midstream oil and gas assets. He has handled disputes involving lease termination claims, retained acreage, royalty payments, land and mineral title, deed and contract construction, pooling and allocation errors, land use and damages, payout and non-consent issues, subsurface trespass, mineral cotenancy, operatorship disputes, consent and preferential rights, breach of representations and warranties, and indemnification claims. Licensed to practice in Texas and New Mexico, he regularly speaks on topics such as oil and gas deals, disputes, and cases.
