Practice Areas: Environmental Solutions

Natural Resources

Natural Resource law encompasses a diverse group of resources, from above ground resources like timber to below ground resources, such as oil, coal and minerals, and resources like water that can be both below and above ground. Accordingly, we have at our disposal a diverse group of attorneys, including both environmental and business lawyers, to help clients acquire, sell, permit, finance and develop different natural resource assets.

While our practice involving timber and water issues has focused on matters in the Eastern United States, our expertise in Oil & Gas and Mineral projects extends beyond the United States domestic borders to include experience in Central Asia, South American and the Caribbean.

Representative Work

• Assisting the Ministry of Geology and Underground Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan in opening its vast wealth of oil and gas and mineral resources for foreign investment and development through our active involvement in several international tenders and in negotiations with foreign investors following the conclusion of the tender process;
• Acquisition of mineral leases and the conduct of permitting due diligence for a large scale titanium mine that has recently begun operations in southside Virginia;
• Extensive experience in the permitting, purchase and sale of sand and gravel mining projects;
• Assisting a major United States oil company in obtaining the necessary permits for exploratory slant drilling beneath the Chesapeake Bay;
• Assisting a Fortune 500 paper products company in the sale of thousands of acres of timberland throughout the eastern United States;
• Advising timber companies on compliance issues with respect to the impact of their operations on species protected by the Endangered Species Act;
• Representing a specialty clay mining company before the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Natural Resources;
• Representing a city located in Central Virginia in defending its ownership rights to certain quantities of water from the James River.