The $1.5 billion Maine Power Reliability Program was the largest transmission project in Maine's history, with approximately 350 miles of new high voltage transmission line and five new substations. Pierce Atwood was instrumental in helping CMP assess the need for the project through the ISO-New England regional transmission planning process, overseeing the studies to develop the transmission solution for that need, preparing the non-transmission alternative assessment for the project, and obtaining all federal, state, and municipal environmental and land use permits for the project.

Pierce Atwood attorney Gareth Orsmond played a leading role as part of a team that secured a waterways license for Cronin Holding’s 150 Seaport Boulevard project, a 250-foot tall, 22-story mixed use development in Boston’s Innovation District.  Gareth defended Cronin in multiple lawsuits brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and worked with former Massachusetts Governor William Weld to reach a settlement.  The project, built around an iconic building designed by Elkus Manfredi, will break ground in the spring of 2018 and will bring about significant public benefits, including 46 units of deeply subsidized senior housing and long-term funding to provide waterfront and Boston Harbor experiences to disadvantaged children from the City of Boston. 

Represented Maine Blueberry Commission in development of new pesticide application general permit for application adjacent to water bodies.

Represented Brookfield Renewable Power in matters concerning the Ripogenus and Penobscot Mills, including judicial appeals of FERC license orders. We obtained a favorable ruling in Conservation Law Foundation v. FERC, 216 F.3d 41 (D.C. Cir. 2000).

Pierce Atwood acted as real estate and environmental permitting counsel for Calpine Corporation in its $530 million acquisition of the 809 MW Fore River Generating Station in North Weymouth, Massachusetts from Exelon Corporation in 2014. Pierce Atwood attorneys from the Real Estate, Energy, Environmental and State and Local Tax practice groups worked seamlessly to analyze and resolve the many complex land use, tax, and environmental issues. The initial bid preparation through purchase agreement negotiation was accomplished in 15 weeks. Our work included analysis and management of complex tidelands, former coal ash disposal, dual fuel delivery requirement, and management of active MassHighway bridge relocation through the center of project site.

Representing company in acquisition of brownfields real estate (site of former paper mill), water rights, fish egg import license, and all necessary land use and environmental permits and submerged land leases for construction and development of large land-based North Atlantic salmon farm on Penobscot Bay.

Responsible for handling all state permitting issues associated with Downeast LNG, LLC’s proposed development of a liquefied natural gas import terminal and pipeline in Robbinston, Maine, in 2005-2008.

Represented developer in expansion of existing mobile home park by approximately 80 lots in Kittery, Maine.  The project required a successful appeal pursuant to the mobile home park statute, 30 M.R.S. § 4358, which restricts the authority of municipalities to establish overly restrictive zoning to preclude development or expansion of mobile home parks. 

Represented Florida Power and Light on real estate title, easements, entitlements, and documentation, as well as the transfer of federal, state, and local environmental and land use approvals, in connection with the acquisition of the Seabrook, New Hampshire Nuclear Power facility.

Represented Sappi North America, Inc. in the negotiation and permitting of the surrender of the FERC license for the Saccarappa Hydro Project in Westbrook, Maine, in 2013-2019.

Representation of GO Lab, Inc., d/b/a TimberHP, a startup company helping to revitalize Maine’s forest products industry by repurposing a former paper mill to develop and manufacture environmentally responsible wood fiber insulation, in all aspects of the development of its business.

Advised Irving Woodlands, LLC on a concept plan rezoning before the Maine Land Use Planning Commission for about 51,000 acres in northern Maine, including a potential conservation easement of more than 16,700 acres. The project proposes rezoning for residential, commercial, forestry, and recreational lodging uses along four lakes in the Fish River Chain of Lakes, and includes innovative new rules for managing phosphorus export, provides alternatives for septic systems at existing camp lots, and requires implementation of sustainable forestry practices.

Represented NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC, the operator of the State-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill, in the successful federal, state and local licensing of a 9.35 million cubic yard horizontal expansion of this solid waste facility.  State and local approvals were obtained after contested adjudicatory proceedings.

Represented Bates College in 2015-2016 in obtaining municipal land use approvals for the construction of a replacement rowing team boat house on the Androscoggin River in Greene, Maine.  This work included defending an appeal of site plan approval to the Town of Greene Board of Appeals. 

Represented Pine Tree Landfill in obtaining necessary permits for construction and operation of 5 MW landfill gas-to-energy facility.

For over three decades, Pierce Atwood has represented virtually all of Maine’s pulp and paper companies in the licensing, relicensing, and expansion of their respective solid waste landfills, which are dedicated to the disposal of the solid and special wastes generated at each mill that cannot otherwise be reduced, recycled, or composted.

Pierce Atwood assisted a major pulp and paper company in successfully licensing two new tissue machines, which are now under construction.

Representation of Mercy Hospital in all real estate and transactional aspects, including financing, for the acquisition and development of a major new hospital campus project along the Fore River in Portland, Maine. This project required the assemblage of multiple parcels, negotiating easements and crossings with the Portland Terminal Company railroad, the negotiation with the City of Portland for a special contract zone to accommodate the development, negotiating with the State of Maine DOT for the construction of a new access road connecting I-295 and the riverfront, working with various community groups, such as Portland Trails, to reach a community consensus on the project and incorporating community issues into the project, working with the DEP on wetland remediation and natural wildlife concerns and clearing ancient claims of title and relocation of public roads.

Assisted in cleanup, redevelopment, and permitting of a former paper mill on a 40-acre river site into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brewer, Maine, which is now constructing large-scale, high-tech building components for industrial facilities and shipping them via ocean barging. The firm addressed state and local environmental and land use permitting and real estate issues, including issues arising from historic contamination, negotiated numerous environmental and real estate concerns with interested parties, and facilitated the Voluntary Response Action Plan issued by the Maine DEP.

Since 2017, Pierce Atwood has represented Avangrid Networks, Inc. and its affiliates CMP and NECEC Transmission LLC on all aspects of the development of the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), a $1 billion, 147-mile high-voltage direct current transmission line that will interconnect the New England transmission system with the Hydro-Quebec (HQ) transmission system at the Canadian border in western Maine. The NECEC will deliver 1,200 MW of hydropower generated by Hydro-Quebec to the New England grid around the clock for at least 40 years. As found by the Maine PUC, this project promises to reduce the cost of electricity in Maine and New England by tens of millions of dollars each year, increase the reliability of the New England electric grid, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.0-3.6 million metric tons annually (the equivalent of removing 700,000 cars from the road).

Representation of the Skating Club of Boston in the acquisition and development of a new, state-of-the-art, three-rink, 4,000-seat skating facility on University Avenue in Norwood, Massachusetts. We have assisted the Skating Club in all aspects of site acquisition, title matters (including clearing some old reciprocal easements for an office park that was never developed), zoning, wetlands and MEPA permitting, payment in lieu taxes agreements, and development agreements. We also represented the Skating Club in the sale of its existing facility at 1234 and 1240 Soldier’s Field Road in Boston.

Represented NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC, the operator of Maine’s largest state-owned landfill, in separate projects to license a 7 million cubic yard vertical increase in disposal capacity and to accept municipal solid waste for disposal. Both projects involved successful defenses of appeals to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

Represented paper mill to obtain all environmental permits necessary for substantial rebuild of a paper coating machine without imposition of additional burdensome license limits for new coaters.

We represented Xpress Natural Gas (XNG) in expanding access to compressed natural gas throughout the State of Maine and elsewhere in New England. Pierce Atwood assisted XNG in obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals and environmental permits for compressed natural gas production facilities in Baileyville and Eliot, Maine. These facilities receive natural gas from major pipelines, condition and compress it, and then dispense it into tank trailers made of composite materials. The trailers are then trucked to customer locations throughout Maine and elsehwhere, where the CNG is used primarily as boiler fuel. These were the first facilities of their kind in New England, and allow consumers who are not presently served by a gas utility to take advantage of this abundant, clean burning, economic and domestically produced energy resource. Our attorneys successfully led XNG through the process of obtaining approvals from the Public Utilities Commission. We drafted and obtained a town zoning ordinance amendment and other local approvals, and successfully navigated permit or exemption issues before the Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Fuel Board, and the State Fire Marshal. We were also successful in determining that the facility was not subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction.

Assisted Charter Realty & Development in 2014 with City of Portland permitting needed to change the use of a restaurant to a Dunkin Donuts, with a drive-through window.

Represented client in enforcement action brought by NHDES as a result of release of oil into the Piscataqua River in Newington, NH. 

Serve as lead PRP counsel and Chair of Steering Committee for over 100 participating PRPs at Plymouth, Maine NPL Superfund site; represent parties in Removal Order, RI/FS Order, Remedial Design AOC and ongoing Technical Impracticability Waiver effort; manage all site issues with EPA and state including PCB issues, Natural Resource Damage claims, post-remediation obligations and financial assurance.

Represented several Maine pulp and paper facilities on MEPDES licensing renewals and modifications, including review of nutrient limitations and development of site-specific metals limitations.

We represented Madison Paper Industries, a major pulp and paper company, in all corporate, environmental, and real estate aspects of the sale of all of its remaining Maine assets in three separate transactions to three different, unrelated parties. Facilities sold included pulp and paper production facilities, hydropower facilities, and a closed solid waste landfill.

We assisted Sappi with a $42.5 million project to rebuild a paper coater at its Westbrook Mill by obtaining all necessary environmental permits for the project.

Represented Sappi’s Somerset Mill in successfully obtaining state air and land use permits for its $165 million rebuild of its No. 1 Paper Machine to manufacture consumer packaging products.

Represented Sappi in obtaining all permits to utilize alternative fuels in a multi-fuel boiler.

Served as lead counsel on state and local licensing of a new 1,000 ton-per-day solid waste transfer station and construction and demolition debris processing facility approved after contested adjudicatory hearings before the Maine Board of Environmental Protection and City of Westbrook.

We represented Poland Spring in Maine on all permitting matters for new spring sites in Rumford and Lincoln. This included obtaining state and federal land use and environmental approvals for water extraction and wetland impacts, acquiring land rights, and negotiating water supply agreements. Pierce Atwood also provides real estate due diligence, and transaction work and governmental relations for Poland Spring in Maine.

We successfully represented Berwick Iron & Metal Recycling in obtaining the necessary environmental and land use permits to allow construction and operation of an automobile shredder, the first large industrial metal shredder in the State of Maine. The permits included the necessary air emissions and waste facility processing permits from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and the necessary land use permits from the Town of Berwick Planning Board. We successfully defended the DEP permits before the Maine Board of Environmental Protection, and we successfully defended the Planning Board permits before the Maine courts. Read the full opinion denying the appeals of the Town permits: Duffy v. Town of Berwick, 2013 ME 105.

Represented 16-member performing party group at Superfund site in New Hampshire with various USEPA and NHDES compliance issues, including the planning, drafting, negotiation and execution of environmental covenants as part of a water line extension.

Represented the owner of a closed manufacturing facility landfill in Solon, Maine in the transfer of the Maine DEP closure order for the landfill, in 2010. 

Represented multiple large clients at the Wells, Maine Waste Oil site as lead PRP counsel and Chair of Steering Committee in case with over several hundred participating PRPs. Nationally recognized innovative cash out settlement with state, involving property and liability transfers, insurance protections, and toxic tort protections. Continuing to represent the entity that completed the cleanup and manages the site post-closure, including addressing financial assurance matters.

Representation of real estate developer in connection with wetlands and Chapter 40B permitting of a 144-unit, age-restricted multifamily project in Abington, Massachusetts in close proximity to the Abington commuter rail station.