The Hydrogen Economy is taking off nationally and internationally. While Hydrogen has long been recognized as a possible low carbon fuel alternative, with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”), the United States is moving quickly to firmly incorporate hydrogen into its energy portfolio as a primary non or low-carbon fuel. Internationally, projects combining renewable solar and wind power to create hydrogen fuel through hydrolysis from seawater are gaining significant investment.
This webinar for ACOEL Fellows provides a quick review of hydrogen fuel historically, a users’ guide to the colors of hydrogen, recent technological developments supporting the deployment of green hydrogen from water relative to the many other hydrogen sources. This webinar will then review the hydrogen fuel landscape including projects both internationally and nationally, including a major project supporting green hydrogen in a recognized oil and natural gas state, as well as the roles lawyers play in these projects.
Our expert panelists include ACOEL Guests Marijn Bodelier (Greenberg Traurig – Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Kenneth Wagner (Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and the Environment), moderated by ACOEL Fellows Mary Ellen Ternes (Earth & Water Law, LLC) and David Mandelbaum (Greenberg Traurig). Time will be reserved for the audience to ask questions.
For background reading regarding the U.S. DOE “Hydrogen Shot” Program and implementation by the State of Oklahoma, see: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/articles/doe-update-hydrogen-shot-rfi-results-and-summary-hydrogenprovisions and https://ee.ok.gov/resource/hydrogen-task-force/ respectively. For the EU hydrogen strategy and proposed framework legislation see: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_6682 and https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/hydrogen_strategy.pdf respectively.
*Please note this webinar is open to ACOEL Fellows only.
Guest Presenters and Moderators Biographies:
Presenter Kenneth Wagner serves as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Energy and Environment where he was appointed in 2019 by Oklahoma’s Governor J. Kevin Stitt. In this role, he is responsible for over 30 state agencies, boards, compacts, and commissions as well as advancing policies that encourage economic growth, sensible regulation that fosters responsible energy production, protects natural resources, and ensures clean air, land, and water for all Oklahomans.
Previously, Mr. Wagner served as the Senior Advisor to the Administrator for Regional and State Affairs within U.S. EPA’s Office of the Administrator where he also served as Director of the Office of Regional Operations. In his duties at EPA, he served as the Administrator’s designee to all 10 regions before regional administrators were appointed, and he continued to coordinate all 10 U.S. EPA Regional Administrators and served as an advocate for the regions at headquarters with all the assistant administrators for each national program and the Administrator’s office. In addition to his regional duties, he served as the main point of contact in the Administrator’s Office with all 50 states’ top environmental regulators and tribal governments. He led the efforts to reform and redefine the federal-state relationship and its efforts around cooperative federalism. Mr. Wagner has helped lead numerous policy initiatives for the Administrator.
He was appointed and previously served as the Administrator’s Designee on the Gulf Coast Eco System Restoration Council, also known as the RESTORE Council. EPA was responsible for implementing the RESTORE Act and administering billions of dollars of settlement funds that were paid by BP as a result of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. During his time at RESTORE, Wagner served as the Chair governing all business and executive meetings of the five Gulf states and six federal agencies making up the Council.
Mr. Wagner was also closely involved in the Office of Research & Development’s initiative to better partner with states to solve everyday environmental challenges and make their vast inventory of research more readily accessible for states, tribes, and the public. He also coordinated the intra-agency working group to tackle the waste discharges entering the U.S. from our border neighbors in Mexico, and assisted the Administrator in his goal of bringing certainty to the American people by returning the Agency to its core mission: improving water quality, accelerating land cleanups, modernizing aging water infrastructure, and bringing the country back into air attainment by improving air quality.
Before joining the Agency he came from the private sector where he practiced law and held private business interests for nearly 25 years. He was a founding member and managing partner of a successful mid-sized law firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he practiced and managed a diverse practice that included commercial, energy, and environmental matters. In addition to running a successful law firm, he was involved in numerous successful business and commercial ventures, including being a minority partner in Oklahoma’s Triple-A baseball team based in Oklahoma City from 2003 to 2010. Mr. Wagner received his degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Presenter Marijn Bodelier is located in Greenberg Traurig’s Amsterdam Office in The Netherlands. Marijn focuses on public law, environmental law, and real estate. He is regularly involved in international transactions and projects where public law aspects are a key element. Marijn has particular experience in litigation and contracts with respect to real estate developments, permitting processes, expropriation and renewable energy projects. Marijn is Co-Chair of GT’s global Hydrogen Group and concentrates in Public Law, Property development and projects, Permits and enforcement, Government contracts, Expropriation, Sustainability, Renewable Energy and Hydrogen.
Moderator Mary Ellen Ternes has long been recognized nationally in the fields of chemical engineering and environmental law and advocacy. Her practice brings over 30 years of in-depth experience at the intersection of energy, manufacturing, air quality, hazardous waste management, infrastructure, and disaster response. Prior to her 24 years as an environmental attorney, Mary Ellen served the U.S. EPA in emergency response, hazardous waste site remediation, and permitting, then industry as a commercial hazardous waste incineration compliance management, and then back to U.S. EPA as a law clerk for EPA’s Office of General Counsel. With this background, she is able to draw on EPA administrative process, technical, chemical engineering, and field experience in the most complex and technically challenging environmental matters.
Mary Ellen received her B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University (1984), and a J.D. with high honors, from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (1995), where she was Managing Editor of the UALR Law Journal and clerked for the U.S. EPA Office of General Counsel, Air and Radiation Division. Mary Ellen is licensed in Arkansas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Introductions, David G. Mandelbaum is a shareholder in the environmental practice of Greenberg Traurig. He maintains offices in Philadelphia and Boston. Mandelbaum teaches “Environmental Litigation: Superfund” and “Oil and Gas Law” in rotation at Temple Law School, and the Superfund course at Suffolk Law School in Boston. He is a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.