In an evolving regulatory climate, companies in highly regulated industries need a firm that can guide them through all levels of legal exposure and help them plan for the future.

Regulatory

Regulatory insight that anticipates changes.

Regulatory

Overview

When companies face matters relating to the development and enforcement of complex regulations, they turn to Munger, Tolles & Olson. We represent clients facing oversight from local, state and federal agencies, including the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the Surface Transportation Board and others, with a focus on helping them not just comply, but thrive.

Our firm’s strong tradition of public service makes us familiar to regulators across the nation and enables us to help our clients participate constructively in the development of regulatory programs, respond to investigations, comply with complex mandates and defend themselves in litigation and appeals. This breadth of knowledge and ability to handle complex rulemaking, investigations and enforcement matters is supplemented by our attorneys’ significant experience in appellate courts, up to and including the U.S. Supreme Court.

We are known for guiding utilities through high-profile proceedings and investigations related to wildfires, rate recovery, infrastructure development and bankruptcy reorganization. We also counsel tech innovators on regulatory compliance and challenges to state laws and municipal ordinances. Our ability to guide a matter through all levels of legal exposure sets us apart from our competition and has given us a national reputation for reaching extraordinary resolutions with authorities on behalf of clients in a wide range of industries.

With credibility, a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape and the ability to handle the full life cycle of regulatory matters, we deliver the compliance advice and legal resolutions that help our clients grow.

Experience

Energy

Our energy industry regulatory representations include:

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in: 
- Securing a victory in a D.C. Circuit appeal of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling that would have enabled a San Francisco-owned utility to use PG&E’s facilities to take over PG&E’s customers. 
- Defending against a petition brought by the City and County of San Francisco asking the CPUC to determine how much PG&E would have to be compensated to acquire the transmission and distribution assets used to serve San Francisco customers. It is one of the largest municipal condemnation of utility assets in history. 
- Obtaining CPUC approval for its Plan of Reorganization. 
- Obtaining CPUC approval for the issuance of $7.5 billion in securitized bonds based on stress test costs under California Senate Bill 901. The transaction was one of the largest in the history of the utility bond securitization market and a critical element of PG&E’s post-emergence deleveraging plan.
Southern California Edison Co. in: 
- An application to recover in rates costs incurred to defend and resolve claims arising from the 2017 Thomas Fire and 2018 debris flow events. Under the settlement agreement approved by the Commission, SCE will recover 60% of its costs, or approximately $1.6 billion, among other terms. This is the first time the CPUC has authorized recovery of wildfire claims costs. We have filed a similar application with respect to SCE’s costs associated with the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which is currently pending before the CPUC. 
- CPUC proceedings to successfully resolve the extent to which SCE could recover its remaining investments in the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 & 3 after extended outages and their eventual permanent shutdown.  
- An application for authority to engage in a transaction related to wireless attachments to transmission towers. 
- Connection with various bankruptcies of energy and utility companies with which SCE has business relationships. 
Liberty Utilities Co. in:
- Handling rehearing proceedings and subsequent appeal in a securitization matter pending before the Missouri Public Service Commission.
- An application before the CPUC to recover in rates costs incurred to defend and resolve claims arising from the 2020 Mountain View Fire. 
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric Co., and Southern California Edison Co. in challenging a CPUC decision reforming the net energy metering program, which provides incentives to customers who install rooftop solar systems.

Transportation

Our transportation industry regulatory representations include:

Association of American Railroads in:
- A high-profile rulemaking proceeding related to reciprocal switching before the Surface Transportation Board.
- A variety of regulatory policy initiatives responding to the evolving rail regulation landscape.
BNSF Railway Co. in:
- Obtaining a settlement with Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s Spring Creek Mine shortly after briefing a Fifth Circuit appeal of an adverse decision from the Surface Transportation Board. The matter was one of the most significant test cases involving the common carrier obligation in decades.
- Establishing that the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) preempts local county permitting processes in the Columbia Gorge, despite the fact that such permitting occurs pursuant to an interstate compact, in a victory in the Ninth Circuit.