Tribal Energy Law: Understanding Sovereignty, Agreements, and Emerging Trends

Benjamin A. Mayer | K&L Gates LLP

Ben Mayer advises and represents public, private, and government clients on environmental, energy and natural resources, and utility law and regulatory matters. He also works with clients on projects and partnerships with Native American tribes.

Ben helps clients navigate federal and state environmental cleanup and land use laws and regulations, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Washington Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). He also advises clients on energy laws, regulations, and public policy applicable to utilities, generating facilities, carbon emissions, and the clean energy transition, including Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), Climate Commitment Act (CCA), and Clean Buildings law.

Endre M. Szalay| K&L Gates LLP

Endre Szalay is a partner in the Environment, Land, and Natural Resources group in the Seattle office. Endre assists a broad range of clients, including public entities, utilities, small businesses, and large corporations, in developing compliance strategies to solve complex problems. His practice focuses on compliance counseling under the full suite of environmental statutes, with an emphasis on the Clean Water Act (CWA); National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and state equivalents; Endangered Species Act (ESA); and the Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and state equivalents.

Endre is also a member of the firm’s top-ranked environmental litigation practice, and has assisted clients in complex litigation ranging from claims under core environmental statues and the Administrative Procedure Act to constitutional causes of action.

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Endre was assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 where he worked on complex environmental enforcement, civil defensive litigation, permitting matters, and regulatory counseling involving water quality standards among other issues. Endre was Region 10’s Senior Water Enforcement Attorney, handling enforcement actions under the CWA and Safe Drinking Water Act. He served as Region 10’s lead attorney for CWA jurisdictional issues, including waters of the United States rulemaking, and mining-related issues.

I. Understanding tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

II. Federal laws governing energy development on tribal lands | 1:20pm – 1:35pm

III. Tribal energy agreements and negotiations | 1:35pm – 1:50pm

IV. Environmental and cultural resource considerations | 1:50pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

V. Renewable energy development in Indian country | 2:10pm – 2:25pm

VI. Litigation and dispute resolution in tribal energy matters | 2:25pm – 2:40pm

VII. Economic impacts of energy development on tribal communities | 2:40pm – 2:55pm

VIII. Recent developments and emerging trends in tribal energy law | 2:55pm – 3:10pm