Steven specializes in energy, natural resources, public lands and environmental law and litigation. He represents oil and gas companies, midstream pipeline operators, renewable energy developers, ski areas, mining companies, investors, landowners and individuals. Steven has acted as a counselor and a litigator in matters involving oil and gas, renewable and conventional energy development, federal lands, wildlife, ski area and resort regulation and development, contracts, and commercial and business issues. Steven also helps clients obtain federal, state, and local project and permit approvals, and routinely defends government authorizations from third-party challenges.
Steven has specialized experience with environmental, natural resource, and land use planning laws, including: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), the Mineral Leasing Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and state and local environmental laws and regulations.
Steven's oil and gas experience is extensive, and includes litigation and counseling about federal, Indian, state, and private leases, title issues, exploration, development, and operating agreements, unitization, gathering obligations, accounting procedures, surface owner disputes, and rental and royalty obligations. Prior to law school, Steven worked as an economic consultant specializing in energy markets.
Practice Areas
Energy & Natural Resources, Litigation, Environmental, Employment
Education
Georgetown University Law
Center
J.D., cum laude, Georgetown
International Environmental
Law Review (2007)
Bates College B.A., magna cum laude (2002)
Bar and Court Admissions
Colorado (2007)
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
Other Professional Affiliations
Colorado Bar Association
Publications and Lectures
AUTHOR:
Energy Development on National Forest System Lands
57 Rocky Mtn. Min. L. Inst. 6-1 (2011)
The Need for Environmental Review Complicates Stimulus Funding, The Environmental Leader, March 25, 2009.
Can NEPA and the Stimulus Bill Coexist?
Law360, February 26, 2009.
EDITOR:
Mineral Development and Land Conservation, A Handbook for Conservation Professionals, Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts (Rev. ed. 2011)
LECTURER:
Energy Development on National Forest System Lands, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Annual Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico (July 2011)
Trends in NEPA Litigation, Public Lands Advocacy NEPA Permitting Seminar, Denver, Colorado (December 2010)
NEPA Case Law Update, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on the National Environmental Policy Act, Denver, Colorado (October, 2010)
Rights of Surface Owners under State Oil and Gas Rules and Strategies for Land Conservation Practitioners
Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts Annual Conference (2010)