Carlos Romo is nationally recognized in natural resources law. He helps clients in a variety of industries navigate complex contractual and regulatory requirements, and has particular expertise in oil and gas disputes, state and federal permitting, environmental due diligence in M&A transactions, agency enforcement, and state and federal litigation and class action matters. His clients include construction companies, developers, utilities, water authorities, oil and gas companies, renewable energy developers, trade associations, mining companies, refineries and chemical companies, landowners, and resort operators.

Carlos previously worked for 10 years in the energy and natural resources practice at Baker Botts in Austin, Texas.  Prior to that he clerked for Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson on the Texas Supreme Court. Carlos is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at The University of Colorado School of Law where he teaches Public Lands and Resources Law. Carlos has been recognized by 5280 Magazine, Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers as a top natural resources and environmental lawyer.

Representative Experience:

Oil and Gas Disputes.  Carlos is actively involved in many oil and gas disputes, including disagreements over siting, surface use, breach of contract, nuisance and trespass litigation, and royalty class actions. Clients rely on Carlos’ familiarity with agreements in the upstream and midstream context to help navigate complex breach of contract actions. He has represented both landowners and operators and has litigated oil and gas issues in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Carlos’ experience includes state and federal class actions involving royalties, deductions, farm-out and exploration agreements, and marketing issues in oil and gas production.

Clean Air Act. Carlos has over 15 years of experience working on a variety of Clean Air Act matters. He is particularly knowledgeable about regulations and enforcement matters targeting emissions from power plants, refineries and processing plants, and oil and gas sources. Most recently, he assisted clients navigate Colorado Aid Quality Control Commission contested rulemakings related to ozone nonattainment and regional haze. He also has substantial air quality and permitting experience in Texas and Wyoming.

Water. Carlos’ water practice includes water rights and water quality permitting under state water rights frameworks and federal Clean Water Act discharge and wetlands permits. He has extensive experience in obtaining water rights with impacts on endangered species and in conducting due diligence and negotiating a variety of agreements in water-related transactions. He also has substantial experience in stormwater permitting and enforcement matters.

Waste. Carlos is uniquely familiar with regulatory requirements related to solid waste disposal and recycling.  He recently served as lead counsel for a group of state and national trade associations on a Colorado rulemaking regulating technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM). Throughout his career, Carlos has worked closely with clients using innovative technologies to recycle waste products into beneficial products, whether it is recycling produced water for reuse in oil and gas operations or spent catalysts to recover precious metals. Carlos is deeply familiar with CERCLA and RCRA permitting and litigation matters, and he helped resolve legacy environmental liabilities tied to a copper mining company in a $1.5 billion bankruptcy proceeding.

Endangered Species Act. Some of Carlos’ most signature environmental permitting and litigation matters involve endangered species. He was instrumental in drafting innovative “hybrid” conservation agreements for the dunes sagebrush lizard and lesser prairie chicken. One of his major successes was the appeal of an adverse order involving water rights and alleged impacts on endangered whooping cranes. His river authority client played a key role in overturning the order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Carlos helped defend the judgment in the U.S. Supreme Court. Carlos also assists clients obtain ESA Section 7 and Section 10 incidental take permits for infrastructure projects, and recently helped a renewable energy company obtain conservation credits to enable construction of a 522MW wind farm.

Natural Resources Transactions. Carlos has substantial experience in a variety of natural resource transactions involving oil and gas companies (upstream, midstream, and downstream), gas stations, wind energy developers, ski and golf club resorts, water and waste entities.  Clients rely on Carlos’ aptitude for analyzing complex environmental and natural resource regulatory requirements in due diligence and negotiating deal documents to manage regulatory risks. Carlos’ most recent deals include: drafting and negotiating a conservation credit agreement for a 522MW wind farm; analyzing and drafting indemnity provisions for an acquisition of a 500-mile oil pipeline; and performing environmental due diligence on deals involving multiple ski and golf club resorts on public lands.