Claudia K. Powers is a member of Buchalter’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group in the Firm’s Portland office. Ms. Powers’ clients include, among others, international chemical, steel pipe and industrial gases corporations, light and heavy industries, municipalities, electric power producing companies, and a regional water resource management facility that produces fertilizer from waste water.
Ms. Powers is recognized in Chambers USA and Best Lawyers in America for her expertise in Environmental Law. Her background and experience in energy, sustainability, and environmental law makes Ms. Powers one of the most sought after attorneys for complicated superfund, natural resources, and contaminated property redevelopment projects. Currently, she is working on the redevelopment of industrial property inside the Portland, Oregon Urban Growth Boundary, a project involving public and private cooperation with the Oregon Business Development Department’s Brownfields Program and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. She is also working with public and private parties to redevelop former mill and plywood sites in Southern Oregon and Central Washington.
Ms. Powers is the lead environmental attorney for an international steel pipe manufacturer, assisting the company in acquisitions, cleanup and sales of industrial property, as well as regulatory permitting and compliance matters. Ms. Powers is also a skilled negotiator with broad problem-solving experience. She negotiated one of the state’s first pre-purchaser agreements for the transfer and cleanup of contaminated property. Ms. Powers has negotiated a variety of transactions and complex liability allocation agreements. She headed the environmental strategy team in one of the region’s most unusual bankruptcy cases involving environmental liability. Ms. Powers has worked extensively with local, state, and federal regulators to successful effect for over 30 years.
Ms. Powers has also been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America, Environmental Law and Natural Recourses Law, for 2023 & 2024.
Publications
Environmental Audits. The Oregon Deskbook on Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Brownfields: Redeveloping Contaminated Lands. The Oregon Insider
Asbestos. The Oregon Deskbook on Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Environmental Law in Oregon. Oregon Legal Guide for International Business