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Allison D. Wood Partner

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Washington, D.C. T +1 202 857 2420 F fax +1 202 828 3354
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Allison leads the firm’s ESG Task Force, and is nationally recognized as a leader in the field of environmental law, particularly in the area of climate change, where she has guided clients through complex and politically charged precedent-setting cases before the US Supreme Court and several Courts of Appeals. She has been described in Chambers USA 2016 as “a terrific lawyer.”

For more than a decade, members of the C-suite and boards of directors for many companies and nonprofits have turned to Allison for advice on climate change issues. She also has testified multiple times before Congress on the legal issues surrounding climate change.

  • Allison has represented clients before the Supreme Court in all three landmark cases involving climate change: Massachusetts v. EPA, American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut, and Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA.
  • Taking each client’s individual business objectives into consideration, Allison assists with compliance with environmental statutes and regulations. She provides guidance and education to clients on compliance issues and on existing and forthcoming laws, prepares comments on proposed regulations, challenges unlawful regulations in court, and defends favorable regulations from attacks by others. She has also successfully defended companies from tort suits alleging that greenhouse gas emissions from the companies’ normal business operations contribute to the “nuisance” of global climate change.
  • As many companies pursue burgeoning ESG goals, Allison counsels public and private companies on environmental sustainability trends. She also advises on transactional matters in which entities seek to cut their carbon emissions by utilizing carbon offsets, RIN credits under the EPA’s renewable fuel standard program, or renewable energy credits.

Allison is well known for her ability to distill complex legal issues into easily understandable terms, and is valued for her strategic insights, practical knowledge, and ability to develop solutions with the bottom line in mind.

Experience

  • Representation of client before the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Massachusetts v. EPA, which established EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act to address global climate change.
  • Obtained a victory holding that corporations cannot be sued for greenhouse gas emissions under federal common law in the Supreme Court case American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut. This was the first global warming case based upon a public nuisance claim.
  • Obtained a victory limiting EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V permitting programs in the Supreme Court case Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA.
  • Representation of several clients as one of the select coordinating counsel in the litigation challenging EPA’s Clean Power Plan, including arguing a portion of the case before the en banc DC Circuit and helping to obtain a stay of that rule from the Supreme Court on behalf of her clients.
  • Representation of client and act as liaison counsel for non-state parties in the litigation involving EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule.
  • Advise client regarding EPA’s Quad Oa rule regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, EPA’s reconsideration of that rule, and in litigation.
  • Advise clients regarding implementation of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule.
  • Representation of clients as lead counsel in the preparation of rulemaking comments in support of EPA’s proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan and in the preparation of comments regarding how EPA should replace the Clean Power Plan.
  • Representation of clients as lead counsel in litigation before the DC Circuit challenging EPA’s regulations to address greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and reconstructed electric generating units.
  • Representation of client as lead counsel in litigation before the DC Circuit challenging EPA’s amendments to the regional consistency regulations.
  • Defense of numerous clients against tort claims alleging nuisance based on the clients’ greenhouse gas emissions that occur as part of their normal business operations, obtaining victories in the Supreme Court, Fifth Circuit and Ninth Circuit.
  • Obtained a victory for a client in rulemaking proceedings in New Mexico and resulting litigation before the New Mexico Court of Appeals and New Mexico Supreme Court, resulting in the elimination of harmful greenhouse gas regulatory programs in New Mexico.
  • Advise clients on issues related to climate change and its interaction with the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.
  • Representation of clients in litigation involving whether the public trust doctrine extends to the atmosphere and can be used to limit greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change.
  • Assist clients in assessing their “carbon footprints” and taking advantage of opportunities associated with global climate change, including participation in voluntary markets and creation of offsets.
  • Representation of a trade association in challenging a New York state law that interfered with the operation of the Clean Air Act’s sulfur dioxide emission allowance market, with the law ultimately being declared unconstitutional.

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