Allison Wood

Allison D. Wood has helped clients navigate complex and politically charged climate change issues, working on several precedent-setting cases, including in the US Supreme Court and several Courts of Appeals.

For more than a decade, clients have turned to Allison for advice on climate change issues. A trailblazer on this issue, she 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. She has also testified multiple times before Congress on the legal issues surrounding climate change.

With the client’s business objectives in mind, Allison assists with every facet of climate change law. She provides guidance and education on existing and forthcoming climate 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.

A trusted adviser to members of the C-suite and boards of directors for many companies and nonprofits, she is well known for her ability to distill complex legal issues into easily understandable terms. She is valued for her strategic insights, practical knowledge, and ability to develop solutions with the bottom line in mind.

Allison has been at the firm since 1999 and enjoys solving clients’ problems. She serves as the hiring partner for the firm’s Washington DC office.

Experience:

• Represents 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.
• Represents 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.
• Represents clients as lead counsel in ongoing litigation before the DC Circuit challenging EPA’s regulations to address greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and reconstructed electric generating units under section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act.
• Represents client as lead counsel in ongoing litigation before the DC Circuit challenging EPA’s amendments to the regional consistency regulations under the Clean Air Act.
• Advises client regarding EPA’s Quad Oa rule regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas sector under section 111 of the Clean Air Act.
• 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.
• Successfully defended 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.
• Represented 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 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.
• Prepares comments for clients on proposed regulations, and has prepared comments for clients on every major EPA rulemaking involving regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
• Advises 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.
• Represented 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.
• Assists 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.
• Successfully challenged on behalf of a trade association 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.

EDUCATION:

• JD, George Washington University Law School, 1998
• BS, California State University, Northridge, 1993

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• District of Columbia
• Virginia

Memberships:

• Member, District of Columbia Bar Association
• Member, Virginia Bar Association
• Admitted before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and District of Columbia Circuits, as well as the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Women’s Energy Network