Tom Anson

Litigation

• Successfully defended a municipal electric and gas utility in a series of state and federal court lawsuits that attempted to wrest utility management and control away from its independent board of trustees.
• Successfully defended a gas pipeline company in a regulatory dispute with another gas pipeline company over “ratable take” priority flow-through before the Railroad Commission of Texas.
• Successfully defended a gas pipeline company in a regulatory dispute over its status as exempt from gas utility regulation before the Railroad Commission of Texas.
• Successfully defended a gas pipeline company against another gas pipeline company’s attempt to increase its transportation rate at the Railroad Commission of Texas.
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a gas producer after presenting oral argument in federal appellate court despite a district court take-nothing judgment in a gas purchase contract pricing dispute.
• Obtained a favorable settlement for a gas gatherer after presenting oral argument in federal appellate court in a gas processing contract termination dispute.
• Advised on Railroad Commission of Texas and oil and gas issues that assisted in the successful resolution of court litigation over natural gas storage assets.
• Advised on wholesale water rate issues that assisted in the successful resolution of litigation before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
• Successfully obtained a protested acid gas injection permit in litigation before the Railroad Commission of Texas.
• Obtained favorable resolution of a Public Utility Commission of Texas enforcement action.
• Obtained favorable resolution of compliance disputes with the Texas Reliability Entity and the Electric Reliabiity Council of Texas.
• Successfully defended landowner interests on electric transmission line routing issues at the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
• Successfully obtained a declaratory order of the Public Utility Commission on certain renewable energy credit issues.
• Obtained for a telecommunication carrier a federal district court judgment reversing a regulatory ruling of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and obtained an affirmance of that judgment by the appeals court in what became the leading case on the issue.
• Obtained for a telecommunication carrier a federal district court judgment invalidating on federal preemption grounds a telecommunications regulation of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and obtained an affirmance of that judgment by the appeals court.
• Successfully opposed for a telecommunications carrier a competitor’s regulatory plan before the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
• Successfully served as mediator in resolving energy disputes.
• Provided expert witness testimony on natural gas regulation in an energy arbitration.

Non-Litigation

• Acting as lenders’ or investors’ local counsel on regulatory and related Texas issues involved in various financial transactions, such as wind farms, other generation facilities, and new electric transmission lines located in Texas.
• Negotiation of various wholesale electric power supply and related agreements, retail electric power supply agreements, and electric aggregation agreements.
• Negotiation and preparation of retail electric supply and related agreements for large loads with unusual usage characteristics.
• Consultations with clients regarding the interpretation of various electric and gas supply and transportation agreements.
• Consultations with clients regarding various electric, gas, and other regulatory requirements.
• Assisting clients on agency rulemakings.
• Assisting clients on various utility ratemaking and tariff matters.
• Handling various uncontested approval or other regulatory matters.
• Consultations with clients regarding the interpretation and application of various electric, gas, and other regulatory requirements to their business organizations and operations.
• Assist clients with various regulatory authorization and compliance filings.