An Infocast Interactive Web Conference

Webinar Information

Rebecca W. Watson, Partner, HOGAN & HARTSON, LLP

Rebecca Watson is a partner with the Hogan & Hartson law firm in their Denver office focusing on strategic advice for complex natural resource challenges. She provides advice to companies seeking to permit natural gas, wind, solar and geothermal energy projects on public lands.

Rebecca has more than 20 years of legal and policy experience in the fields of natural resources, federal environmental law and energy.

Prior to joining Hogan & Hartson, Rebecca served as the assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) for Lands and Minerals Management during the president's first term. She provided policy guidance to three bureaus, BLM, OSM and MMS on the management of public energy resources and to BLM on multiple use management policies on over 261 million acres. Rebecca also served as assistant general counsel for Energy Policy at the Department of Energy during President George H. W. Bush’s term and has lived in and practiced law in the states of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.

Rebecca is a three-time graduate of the University of Denver earning a Bachelor of Arts (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude), Masters and Juris Doctorate degree.

Charles Benjamin, Director, Nevada Office, WESTERN RESOURCE ADVOCATES

Charles Benjamin has been the Director of the Nevada office of Western Resource Advocates since 2007. Charles represents WRA and a coalition of nine other organizations called Nevadans for Clean Affordable Reliable Energy in integrated resource planning and other dockets at the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and in other public policy forums in order to promote greater energy efficiency and renewable energy in Nevada. Prior to joining WRA Charles was a private attorney in Kansas and for ten years represented the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club as a lobbyist and attorney and also represented some 30 neighborhood associations across Kansas in land use and zoning cases. Prior to that Charles served for 16 years as a county commissioner in Harvey County, Kansas while teaching courses in political science at Bethel College and in other colleges and universities in the Wichita, Kansas area. Charles holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California’s School of International Relations and a J.D. from the School of Law at the University of Kansas

Ray Brady, Manager, Energy Policy Act Team, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Ray Brady was recently selected to lead the Renewable Energy Coordination Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department of the Interior, in Washington, DC. The BLM Renewable Energy Coordination Office will provide leadership to policy, regulatory and legislative issues related to the New Energy for America initiatives of the new administration. Mr. Brady has worked for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geological Survey for over 30 years. His experience includes a variety of staff and senior management level positions in both the lands and realty and minerals program areas in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and the Washington Office. Mr. Brady was previously Team Leader for the BLM Energy Policy Act Team established in August 2005. Functions of the Energy Policy Act Team included implementation of some 60 sections of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Prior to his leadership of the BLM Energy Policy Act Team, Mr. Brady was the Division Chief for the Lands and Realty Division within the BLM Washington Office. Functions within the Lands and Realty Division included a broad range of lands and realty issues on the 258 million acres of public lands managed by the BLM in the western U.S. These functions included legislative, regulatory and policy issues related to land disposals and acquisitions, right-of-way authorizations and other land use permits, land withdrawals, land exchanges, land transfers under a variety of statutory authorities, and the cadastral survey of public land boundaries.

Mr. Brady has provided assistance to a variety of tasks associated with implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and most recently the renewable energy initiatives related to the new administration’s New Energy for America agenda. His primary focus has been on implementation actions related to energy transmission and infrastructure needs and on renewable energy resource development, especially wind and solar energy resources on BLM public lands. Mr. Brady has also focused on issues related to future land tenure policies of the BLM. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona, with a degree in Geology.

John Wallin, Director, NEVADA WILDERNESS PROJECT

John Wallin is the Director of the Nevada Wilderness Project, a nonprofit organization that acts a catalyst for wildlife habitat conservation, wilderness preservation, and smart development of renewable energy. John and the Nevada Wilderness Project have worked on multiple federal omnibus legislative efforts that have protected more than 3 million acres since 1999. John has a BA from American University, an MA from UNLV, and lives in Reno, Nevada.

Peter H. Weiner, Partner and Chair of West Coast Environmental Practice,
PAUL HASTINGS LLP

Mr. Weiner is Chair of the West Coast Environmental Practice for Paul Hastings. He spends over half his time on renewable energy projects, principally large-scale solar projects on BLM land. His clients include several companies in the CA Energy Commission and local land use (for PV projects) process. He works closely with staff and Commissioners at the Energy Commission, officials at the CA Department of Fish and Game, BLM, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, including the representatives to the California Governor's Renewable Energy Action Team. He also represents projects in the DOE Loan Guarantee process. Mr. Weiner has represented wind, geothermal, and other clients in the CEQA and NEPA process for over 20 years, has successfully steered clients through the Department of Fish and Game, non-governmental opposition, and federal processes.