The regulated nature of the utilities industry requires an experienced team of legal professionals to navigate the changing landscape of this area of the law. Waller Lansden's attorneys work regularly with utility clients providing siting, regulatory, environmental, tax, corporate, real estate, government relations and bankruptcy advice on various projects, creating a cross-disciplinary approach to servicing our clients' needs.
Our firm has extensive experience practicing before the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) as well as other state and Federal agencies, handling administrative and rate making proceedings for regulated utility entities. Our attorneys also have represented clients in litigation before the TRA involving emerging issues of law such as the transition of local telecommunications services from a monopoly to a competitive market.
Waller Lansden has obtained local franchises for telecommunications carriers and counseled clients in rulemaking, regulatory monitoring and tariff disputes. We have assisted several large manufacturing companies with the renegotiation of their consumption contracts with their energy providers. Waller Lansden represents large producers and generators of energy and has assisted in the siting of several generation facilities in Tennessee. Our attorneys work with both consumers and generators with regard to energy deregulation issues. We provide securities, environmental, siting and permitting, lobbying, real estate and bankruptcy reorganization services to utilities clients.
Our firm provides counsel to numerous energy suppliers on a full range of legal issues. We are particularly knowledgeable in right of way and property acquisition and the overall permitting, government and public relations activities related to siting and obtaining federal, state and local permits associated with the construction of generating facilities and interstate and intrastate pipelines.
Waller Lansden also provides counsel to several distributors of utility services involving government relations, contractual, real estate, tax, regulatory and environmental matters. For example, our government relations attorneys secured certificates of convenience and necessity from the TRA for several telecommunications companies. We successfully represented a cable television company in litigation involving the right to access. We have assisted public utilities structure public/private partnerships in order to provide utilities customers with a wider array of services. These transactions typically involve complicated transactional, tax and government relations services.
Our firm provides counsel to several of the nation's largest electricity producers. We have assisted with numerous siting projects for generation facilities and work closely with producer clients in anticipating market changes that affect their business. We have represented producers with regard to significant state and federal environmental enforcement actions.
Waller Lansden has assisted the following types of entities involved in the utility industry:
- Industrial consumers of electricity and other utilities
- Large distributors of utilities services (utilities and co-operatives)
- Underwriters in the financing of a gas-fired merchant power station
- Companies whose activities are regulated by the TRA, including telecommunications providers and energy companies
- Multi-service municipal utilities
- Cable companies
- Natural gas and petroleum products pipeline companies
- The nation's largest energy producer in its siting and development of power stations in Tennessee
- Various transactions for several of the nation's leading energy companies, including asset sales and preparation for RFPs
- The nation's largest public energy producer with regard to United States Environmental Protection Agency enforcement matters and citizen suits
