Project Development and Facility Siting Expertise
In addition to our expertise under NEPA and analogous state laws, the Group has substantial capability in several related areas necessary for appropriate project development or siting of new or expanded facilities.
ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES
Our attorneys are well versed in the complex network of federal and state laws enacted to protect America's animal and plant species from extinction. The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the most powerful and best known of these laws. But some states and some Indian Tribes also have enacted their own rules. Along with the ESA are other federal laws, such as the Migratory Bird Treat Act, the Lacey Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, and others that directly or indirectly regulate activities that may affect living resources.
Anyone involved in real estate, land development or construction is likely to be impacted in some manner by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA is one of the nation’s most powerful environmental laws and regulates both federal agencies and private individuals in an effort to conserve and restore species that have been listed by the federal government as either endangered or threatened. Projects involving the federal government must include a section 7 “consultation” with the Fish and Wildlife Service/National Marine Fisheries Service (FWS/NMFS), and both private individuals and government agencies must ensure their activities do not involve a “taking” under section 9. Given the significant potential penalties for violating these sections, it is important to ensure absolute compliance with this Act.
We assist clients in navigating the requirements of the ESA and developing solutions to conflicts arising under this Act. We strive to reach outcomes that are not only beneficial to our clients, but also satisfy all parties involved. We have experience counseling clients in a wide variety of ESA-related areas such as ensuring compliance with the Act during project development, creating solutions to either prevent the unauthorized take of a listed species or navigating the incidental take permit process, navigating the consultation process with the FWS/NMFS, and working with the agencies in the development of Biological Opinions.
Our lawyers understand the scientific and technical aspects of complying with the ESA as well as the political and administrative issues. For example, we have:
- Helped clients conduct the necessary studies, investigations and project modifications to avoid adverse impacts on an endangered bird species during the development of a manufacturing facility.
- Advised on the development of an Indian casino involving the required ESA consultation.
- Assisted clients in complying with the requirements included in their construction and NPDES permits.
- Guided clients through the consultation process with the FWS/NMFS during the development of a natural gas pipeline running from Canada to New York and another running the breadth of Texas, and an electric transmission line crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Reviewed and obtained approvals for siting of energy sources with potential impacts on protected species, such as wind farms and hydropower facilities.
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NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION LAW
Sonnenschein lawyers are experienced in assuring successful compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and state counterpart statutes. We deal repeatedly and successfully with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and with numerous State Historic Preservation Officers. These engagement range from negotiation of full Memoranda of Agreement (including Programmatic MOAs) to less formal dispositions, dealing with projects as diverse as land development, energy facility siting (including linear projects), airport expansion, and highway siting.
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PUBLIC LANDS
America’s public lands have been the stage for many of the most contentious and longest-running debates in the country’s history. Forestry, livestock grazing, parks, monuments, native-nation property and cultural rights, international and inter-state boundaries, wildlife, mining, motorized use, wilderness, power plants, rivers and dams.
Public lands are found from coast to coast, as are our lawyers and other professionals, working alongside the many clients who rely on us to help them use or influence the management of public lands and resources. We have been engaged on matters from the national forests of the Upper Midwest, to the parks and seashores of the Northeast, south to Florida’s Everglades, west to the Texas Hill Country, the blazing expanse of the Great Basin, Arizona’s borderlands, and California’s desert, mountain and coastal parks; and north to the Columbia Basin and Puget Sound.
We have represented interstate pipeline developers, hydropower licensees, conservation organizations, water supply developers, international power line proponents, mining interests, federal and state agencies, Indian Tribes, communities, industrial trade associations, and many others on public land issues. Our environmental regulatory work has included obtaining special use permits, addressing endangered and other protected species requirements, changing land use designations, and resolving enforcement actions. Our Public Law & Policy Strategies Group works on Capitol Hill to help public land users on major issues. Our Media and Entertainment group has helped secure access for filmmakers.
Our clients turn to us because we understand and work successfully within the overall dynamic of public land issues. Not only do we understand the law, but we also are familiar with the history and have longstanding relationships with the individuals and institutions that shape public resource issues. Our skills and approach win results: Never has a court overturned an environmental review prepared under our supervision. We were selected to chair the first federal advisory committee charged with developing recommendations for the federal government on how to avoid or resolve environmental conflicts involving public lands. We have been at the center of writing and enacting dozens of federal laws affecting public lands. Development projects and conservation decisions that seemed out-of-reach have been brought to completion because we know how to handle our clients’ public land issues. If you wish to use public lands and resources, or to be involved in shaping their management, Sonnenschein lawyers and other professionals are ready to help you.
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TRANSMISSION LINES AND TOWER SITING
Telecommunications carriers, tower companies, radio and television broadcasts, electric utilities, government agencies, and private buildings and landowners all may be affected by the rules governing siting of communications, broadcast and electric transmission towers. Almost everyone relies on the infrastructure. But, almost every tower siting decision evokes controversy, particularly for large projects and those in sensitive locations.
We have successfully represented clients involved in siting electric transmission towers on public and private lands throughout the country. We have expertise in the general matters of environmental review, species protection, and security, as well as the highly localized issues that arise under zoning and other land use laws. We have helped our clients obtain rights-of-way over federal lands, and federal permits needed to cross international boundaries.
Our lawyers have achieved an unequalled breadth of experience and record of successes before the FCC and other federal, state and local agencies for tower siting. Our experience includes developing comprehensive compliance plans for clients, resolving complaints and compliance problems, and defending enforcement actions before the FCC and other agencies and in federal courts. In many cases, our lawyers have helped these federal agencies develop the laws and regulations they now enforce.
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AIR QUALITY ISSUES
As noted elsewhere, we have substantial experience in obtaining necessary approvals that are required with respect to air quality. These issues most often arise with respect to major new or modified stationary sources, but may also be triggered by projects with transportation conformity issues.
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