- Regularly defend mining companies against enforcement actions taken by federal and state regulatory agencies.
- Assist clients in obtaining environmental permits, permit transfers, waivers and variances for mining and mineral development projects.
- Develop comments and participate in legislative and agency rulemaking activities to shape the rights and obligations of mining clients.
- Represented a client regarding the permissible reach of limitations on an owner's ability to mine on property protected by the Kentucky Wild Rivers Act.
- Work with trade associations to clarify regulatory requirements for access to mined property.
- Obtained a federal court injunction against the federal Office of Surface Mining to prevent threatened federal enforcement when an operator was caught in a disagreement between state and federal regulatory agencies.
- Challenged numerous agency regulations and rulemakings at the program level, achieving delays in implementation and favorable settlements in several others.
- Regularly represent mining companies and mineral holding companies in lease and coal reserve acquisition negotiations.
- Represent mining companies in access issues and surface/mineral owner disputes.
- Advise clients on royalty dispute resolutions.
- Draft standard mineral reserve and development agreements for mining companies and individuals lessors.
- Represented a mineral holding company against the federal government in the Court of Federal Claims on the grounds that its mineral property was taken by surface mining regulation.
- Represent mining companies and coal landholding companies in quiet title actions and title curative work.
- Draft all mineral lease agreements for a large, multi-state coal mining company.
- Regularly draft mineral royalty and contract mining agreements for several Appalachian-based land and mineral holding companies.
- Represented a coal company in its successful effort to obtain a permit to construct and operate the largest coal ash landfill in Kentucky despite a determined permit challenge by citizens.
- Negotiate and draft transportation agreements for mineral cargos, including dock and barge fleeting agreements.
- Routinely represent the Kentucky Coal Association, mining companies and mineral lessors before the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet on unmined minerals taxation issues.
- Represent mining and landholding clients in coal severance tax issues and other mining and extractive-related federal and state tax issues.
- Represented a large energy and coal trading company in the breach of a coal shipping and “through-put” agreement at a dock on the Big Sandy River.
- Represented another large energy company in the negotiation of a lease for a large loading facility on the Big Sandy River.
- Represented an Appalachian coal producer against Cogentrix, Inc. regarding a “requirements” coal supply contract that resulted in a favorable arbitration award for the client of more than $8 million.
- Counseled a large Eastern, investor-owned utility and a regional generation cooperative on the largest bankruptcy of a coal supplier in the country, Horizon Natural Resources, and its pre-petition and post-petition failures to perform various coal supply agreements with those utilities.
- Represented a coal company against a South Carolina utility regarding its alleged failure to perform a coal supply agreement.
- Drafted various amendments and revisions on behalf of a supplier with DTE, TVA, VEPCO, Southern Company Services and various other utilities and industrial users.
- Represented various private parties in numerous disputes on coal supply contracts, marketing and sales contracts, and the renegotiation of unfavorable agreements.
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