Climate change and sustainability concerns create new business opportunities for our clients.  In this rapidly changing area of law, we assist our clients in managing and analyzing emerging opportunities and regulatory risks.  Dunn Carney’s Sustainability Team members bring together significant expertise and diverse experience in real estate development, finance, agriculture and natural resources, government relations, and other fields to advise our clients in a variety of industry sectors.

 Our areas of expertise include the following:

• Sustainable construction and real estate development
• Development agreements, power supply agreements, and site leases for renewable energy
projects, including solar, wind and biomass
• Corporate and contract work for companies within sustainable industries, including complex business entity formation to facilitate funding and financing
• Tax credits related to sustainable development and renewable energy
• Carbon offsets
• Patents and intellectual property protection
• Non-competition agreements and other employment issues
• Biofuel and agribusiness
• Green leases
• Brownfields redevelopment
• Conservation trusts and easements
• Micro-hydro project permitting

Representative Work

Serve as general outside counsel to one of the nation’s leading developers of sustainable, mixed use, urban real estate development and energy efficient construction in all aspects of its operations.

Serve as general outside counsel to one of the nation’s largest purchasers and sellers of carbon dioxide offsets and have negotiated dozens of offset purchase and sale transactions.

Serve as general outside counsel for Oregon’s first and largest seed oil processing company having a capacity to process over 100,000,000 pounds of seed annually for the biodiesel industry.

Represent a publicly traded company that delivers industry leading Demand Response technologies and services to commercial and industrial consumers enabling them to manage their use of electricity in response to market prices or regional power shortages.

Assist the American Institute of Architecture Oregon in developing legislative strategy concerning its proposed High Performance Building legislation, which would require certain state buildings to meet Department of Energy adopted green building design standards and to be certified at the highest standard that a 20-year life cycle cost analysis merits.

Representative Clients

American Institute of Architecture Oregon
EnergyConnect Group, Inc.
Gerding/Edlen Development Company
Gerding Edlen Sustainable Solutions
The Climate Trust
Willamette Biomass Processors, Inc.

Sustainability Team

Kate LaRiche Moore – Team Leader
Robert L. Allen
Merrill J. Baumann
Timothy J. Bernasek
Susan C. Glen
Jack D. Hoffman
JoDee K. Keegan
Elizabeth C. Knight
John T. Miller
Gilbert E. Parker
Kyle J. Stinchfield

Presentations and Articles

Presentations at Dunn Carney’s 2008 Ag Summit:

• Tim Bernasek – Alternative Energy Opportunities for Oregon Agriculture

• Kate Moore (with Katy Coba, Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture) –
      Climate Change Legislation and Carbon Offsets

“The World of Carbon Offsets: What to look for and What to Expect”, article by Merrill Baumann in Climate Change—Litigation, Regulation, and Risk, Thomson West, 2008.
 

“Global Warming:  Implications and Opportunities for Your Clients and Your Practice,”
Presentation by Merrill Baumann at Meritas Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida, April 2009
 

Merrill Baumann leads the newly formed climate change practice group of Meritas, a global affiliation of independent law firms in major cities world wide.