Climate Change & Carbon Management
In recent years, the federal government’s approach to addressing carbon emissions has shifted dramatically and culminated in one of the largest expansions of environmental regulations in our nation’s history. Jackson Walker attorneys are helping our clients withstand this regulatory uncertainty by challenging unwarranted rules in the federal court system, developing projects that capture and utilize carbon emissions, and obtaining the necessary permits for project operation.
Litigation
Jackson Walker attorneys have represented clients in coordination with numerous state Attorney Generals challenging certain GHG regulations, including the Clean Power Plan, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Project Development
Jackson Walker’s leadership in developing innovative solutions to issues for our energy clients continues, both domestically and internationally, and encompasses experience in all sectors of carbon management. Jackson Walker attorneys assist client develop new projects that employ carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology and continue to conduct permitting work at the state level, working with TCEQ to obtain necessary GHG permits.
CCUS Incentives
Since 2003, attorneys in the firm’s Climate Change & Carbon Management Group have been central to the development of regional incentives for the capture, transportation, utilization, and storage of carbon dioxide. Jackson Walker continues to play a central role in the development of expanded incentives in these areas, including enhanced tax and regulatory incentives, transportation-specific incentives, as well as provisions to address liability and ownership issues associated with geologic sequestration.
- Representation of developer in the development of a Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Project. Project included the Joint Development Agreement between the co-developers of the project (which included the respective responsibilities of the co-developers for supply of CO2, construction and operation of the carbon capture facilities and transportation pipelines, and EOR activities, budgets, schedules, financial obligations, each co-developer’s rights to future projects, circumstances for termination and consequences thereof, buyout provisions, and restrictive covenants), the Master CO2 Supply Agreement (which included provisions for the buyer to install and construct the carbon capture facilities and pipeline, provision of services by the industrial source, granting of real property interests, the respective obligations for supply and take of CO2 and shortfalls in same, quality requirements, collateral requirements, rights to assign portions of the CO2 quantity to separate CO2 Supply Agreements under a structure that minimized the exposure for the buyer under the master agreement, implementation of procedures for Section 45Q credits, environmental matters and exclusivity), Project CO2 Supply Agreements for CO2 Floods, and the CO2 Flood Operating Agreements (which included circumstances for changes in the undivided ownership interests, restrictions on transfers, options to purchase assets and other terms to implement the terms of JDA).
- Representation of the owner of a new gas-fired power generation technology that generates electricity and produces pipeline-quality CO2 with zero atmospheric emissions in connection with the development of its 50 MW plant to demonstrate this new technology, including the project site lease, environmental matters, acquisition of right-of-ways, electrical interconnection, and construction related matters.
- Representation of the owner in the development of a 281 MW gas-fired power generation facility in Texas with carbon capture technology to capture all carbon emissions, the sale of CO2 for use in EOR or disposal in secure geological storage, and counsel in connection with MRV requirements and Section 45Q tax credits.
- Representation of an exploration and development company in Wyoming in legal transactional and regulatory matters relating to their development of a CCUS project near Casper, Wyoming. This work includes regulatory strategy and legislative drafting in conjunction with political leadership in the State of Wyoming to develop incentives to bring the project to fruition and within the Wyoming Public Service Commission to ensure that the project is given serious consideration as a retrofit project in lieu of plant retirement.
- Jackson Walker assisted in the development and support of legislation in Texas that provided significant tax incentives for the Petra Nova project. Our team of attorneys worked with the client to ensure that the state incentive package was crafted to maximize the economic benefits for Petra Nova arising from state, local, and federal tax incentives. The legislation created the most comprehensive financial and regulatory incentive program in the nation for electric power generation technology that captures carbon dioxide and uses it in enhanced oil recovery projects while simultaneously storing or “sequestering” the carbon dioxide to abate climate impacts.
- As an outgrowth of the work done to facilitate the Petra Nova Project and expand the CCUS marketplace in Texas and across the Gulf Coast, as well as its role as Special Counsel to the Southern States Energy Board, Jackson Walker was recruited to be a member of the Leadership Council at the University of Houston Center for Carbon Management in Energy (CCME) CCUS Commercialization Consortia. In that role, JW is developing policy recommendations and coordinating with other industry and public members of the council to pursue the commercialization goals of the Consortia.
- Our attorneys have played a significant role in the development of law and policy in North Dakota relating to CCUS and EOR in their capacity as counsel to an energy trade association that serves several individual energy production companies. This work has included working with key state officials on the development and improvement of state regulatory and financial incentives in support of CCUS and EOR project development.
- Jackson Walker has been active in the development of CCUS and EOR policy with state and local Wyoming officials by serving as counsel to the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) and our position as a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Energy Council’s Center for Legislative Energy & Environmental Research (CLEER).
- Representation of Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) in the development of state and market-wide changes to facilitate CCUS project development throughout the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and beyond.
- Representation of a multi-state regional organization created by an interstate compact as Special Counsel to Board. Our attorneys have participated in countless briefings, legislative hearings, and regulatory proceedings in support of CCUS EOR policy and technological development. This has included an active role in the preparation of CCUS EOR reports in conjunction with the Southeastern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (a.k.a. SECARB), which facilitated the Plant Barry pilot scale development of the amine-based carbon capture technology later deployed at commercial scale at Petra Nova. This also involved close coordination of the 10-year carbon sequestration measuring, monitoring, and verification (MMV) pilot project administered by SSEB and SECARB, which further enhanced the firm’s experience as it relates to technical and legal issues associated with the Section 45Q tax credit.
- Representation of midstream company in development and permitting of H2S/CO2 sequestration wells in Texas, including leasing of pore space, submitting permit applications, advising on environmental-related commercial considerations, and developing MRV plans.
- Representation of a natural gas gathering and treating company in the development of a carbon capture project involving the transportation and sequestration of approximately 20 million cubic feet of carbon dioxide per day.
- Representation of a natural gas gathering and treating company in the development of carbon capture projects at two natural gas treating plants in Southern Colorado, with the total anticipated CO2 capture from the two facilities expected at up to 400,000 metric tons annually.
June 6, 2023
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi Delivers Remarks During Energy and Commerce Subcommittee’s Hearing on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
On June 6, 2023, Mike Nasi gave witness testimony at an Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed greenhouse gas emissions standards for the power sector and the reliable delivery of electricity.
April 11, 2023
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi to Speak at Texas Public Power Association Environmental Committee Meeting
At the TPPA Environmental Committee Meeting on April 25, 2023, Mike Nasi will speak about the final Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) Federal implementation Plan (FIP), the proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), and Coal Combustion Residuals determinations (CCRs).
August 26, 2022
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi to Moderate “Governors Energy Caucus” Panel at the SSEB Annual Meeting
As Special Counsel to the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), Mike Nasi will moderate a panel featuring South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant at the SSEB Annual Meeting on August 30, 2022.
August 1, 2022
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi Briefs United Nations on CCUS as a Solution to Energy Poverty and CO2 Emissions
At a high-level briefing for the Group of 77 and China, Mike Nasi joined a panel that addressed how the commercial-scale adoption of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) can lower emissions of CO2 and assure global energy growth.
July 6, 2022
Insights
U.S. Supreme Court Endorses Major Questions Doctrine as Interpretive Canon in EPA Ruling
By Michael Nasi, Jennifer Caughey, Taylor Holcomb, & Cody Vaughn
The United States Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 20-1530) that EPA may not rely upon Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to “force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal.” Citing the “major questions doctrine,” the Court explained that a Congressional delegation of “unprecedented power” requires a clear statement that is simply not present in the Clean Air Act.
April 28, 2022
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi Speaks on Houston’s Viability as a Potential CCUS Hub
Michael J. Nasi joined Hon. Brent Bailey (Mississippi Public Service Commission), Mahak Agrawal (Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy), and Charles McConnell (University of Houston Center for Carbon Management) for a panel discussion on “Advancing Innovation with CCUS Hubs: A Case Study of Houston, Texas.”
December 13, 2021
Speaking Engagements
Mike Nasi Covers U.S. Policies Surrounding Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage at RECS 2021
Michael Nasi joined a panel discussion on “CCUS Policy and Policymaking” during the RECS 2021 program on December 6, 2021. Fellow panelists included Steven M. Carpenter, Ph.D. (Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute), Sallie Greenberg, Ph.D. (Illinois State Geological Survey – University of Illinois), and Michael Weiner (Van Ness Feldman LLP and Carbon Utilization Research Council).
October 5, 2020
Mentions
Daily on Energy, Presented by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions: Fossil-Heavy States Try to Get Ahead of Biden and SCOTUS With Power Plant Carbon Plans | Washington Examiner
West Virginia is likely to be the first state to move, Austin partner Mike Nasi said. The state is on track to soon advance part of its plan, covering the 700-megawatt Longview Power coal plant.
