Energy, Environmental
and Natural Resources

The members of the Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group possess a wealth of talent and experience, and come from diverse backgrounds including the judiciary, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and Fortune 500 companies. Many attorney members of the Group have technical degrees, and many have formerly held positions as in-house engineers, in-house attorneys or scientists with major energy companies. These diverse backgrounds provide the Group with unique insight and practical problem-solving abilities for tackling our clients' complex energy and environmental problems. 

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Energy Transactions
The Group supports the ongoing business activities of its clients by negotiating and drafting agreements in connection with leases, purchases and sales of properties, equipment, facilities and business entities, and by providing advice and counseling on pre-transaction activities such as due diligence and environmental assessment, and post-transaction activities such as remediation of contamination and correction of non-compliance and deficiencies. The Group also represents clients in negotiating and drafting service contracts, purchase and sale agreements, access agreements, and agreements related to the treatment, storage, disposal, handling, transportation, or remediation of wastes and hazardous substances.

Energy Marketing & Trading
The Group focuses on all aspects of the ever changing energy trading business, including drafting and negotiating master agreements for the physical purchase and sale of gas, electricity, coal, emissions, liquid natural gas, crude and refined products and various other commodities and financial transactions involving derivatives of various energy commodities such as swaps, options, swaptions, caps, floors and collars. The Group has substantial experience in customizing and implementing the numerous industry standard agreements including the NAESB Base Contract for Short-Term Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas, the EEI Master Power Purchase and Sale Agreement and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. ("ISDA") Master Agreement, Schedule and Credit Support Annex along with related confirmations. The Group's lawyers also have extensive experience in teaming with marketing and trading companies to develop and negotiate intricate structured transactions. Such transactions include, but are not limited to, tolling agreements, full requirements transactions and heat rate call options. The Group's lawyers are responsible for closing some of the largest long term physical contracts currently in existence in the power industry.

Natural Gas
The Group has substantial experience in transactional work, development projects, litigation and all commercial aspects of natural gas related assets and businesses. These areas of experience include:

• Purchase and Sale Transactions

• Pipeline transactions, including capacity release transactions

• Drilling and Production Agreements

• Royalty and Production Payment Transactions

• Regulatory Work at both the Federal and State Levels

• Gathering and Processing Agreements and Projects

• Services on behalf of major natural gas pipeline companies in significant gas purchase contract litigation

• Services on behalf of buyers, sellers and lending institutions in transactions involving the sale and purchase of producing and non-producing oil and gas properties

Litigation
The Group's litigation expertise encompasses energy, environmental and toxic tort litigation for the petroleum and petrochemical industry and has included:

• Natural gas transportation, gathering, purchase and sale disputes

• Litigation, management and assessment of exposures from discontinued/divested operation

• Royalty disputes

• Indemnification suits arising from multimillion-dollar asset acquisitions

• Environmental suits, including numerous class actions, arising from the operation of water floods, exploration and production activities, production pipelines, disposal facilities and surface damage disputes

• Damage to reservoir and drainage suits

• Right-of-way, franchise and condemnation of royalty and working interest disputes

• Oil and gas related class action and shareholder derivative claims

• Defending claims alleging personal injury or death as a result of exposure to toxic substances in the environment

• Claims arising from indemnity and other contractual provisions allocating environmental responsibility

The practice includes the litigation of enforcement actions by federal and state regulatory agencies, natural resource damage claims, citizens suits, common law, CERCLA, RCRA and other statutory provisions for remediation and cost recovery related to exploration and production, refining, processing, retail, transportation, storage and disposal facilities. The Group also uses its energy and environmental litigation experience to help clients evaluate their operations and practices to avoid situations which might lead to regulatory enforcement actions or litigation.

Administrative/Regulatory
Interpretation and application of the various federal, state and local environmental statutes and their associated regulatory requirements is another important aspect of the Group's service to our clients. Aspects of this practice include representing clients in administrative proceedings, negotiating with administrative agencies, determining the applicability of regulatory requirements to a client's particular facilities or activities, advising clients on how to structure their activities to avoid costly or burdensome regulatory requirements, and assisting clients in proactively affecting legislative enactments and rulemakings which may impact their activities. This practice area also involves working with new or expanding facilities to identify applicable environmental permitting requirements or to renew, modify or avoid permits, assisting clients in preparing for and conducting environmental audits and in implementing related corrective action, and advising clients on the management and remediation of existing contamination.

Representative Clients

BP	Marathon Oil Company
ExxonMobil	Halliburton Services
ChevronTexaco	Reliant Energy
GasTechnologies	The Williams Companies, Inc.
Davis Operating Company	Kerr-McGee Corp.
Continental Resources, Inc.	ConocoPhillips
Oklahoma Gas & Electric	Schlumberger Technologies
Williams Energy Partners, L.P.