GDHM’s attorneys are actively involved in cutting-edge legal issues affecting the electric and telecommunications markets, as well as current legal developments impacting water use, oil & gas development and transportation, and environmental issues. We represent a wide variety of energy and natural resource clients across Texas in a complex array of transactions, traditional litigation and regulatory matters.  Being located in Austin allows us to facilitate access to state regulators headquartered here, including the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Railroad Commission (RRC), and the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC).

Representative matters include:

• Defending the Lower Colorado River Authority against a $1.23 billion contract claim by the City of San Antonio for the development of water resources (winning a dismissal at the trial court level, ultimately settling the case);
• Representing intervenor mineral owners in landfill litigation, Tan Terra v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality;
• Representing landowners in cleanups pursuant to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Railroad Commission requirements;
• Representing a national oil and gas company in the proposed listing of a lizard species and advising them on compliance strategies, including the development of a  conservation plan, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act; 
• Representing an oil and gas company in obtaining drilling permits and regulatory approvals from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the RRC for the development of oil and gas wells in east Texas; 
• Representing electric utility at the PUC in numerous applications for Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) to construct transmission lines and generation facilities; and 
• Representing electric utilities and transmission and distribution utilities at the PUC in applications for rate increases.