Related Practices

Admitted to Practice

District of Columbia
New York
U.S. Supreme Court

James K. Mitchell

Partner

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Washington, D.C.

T202.973.4241

F202.973.4441

Jim Mitchell has had more than 30 years of experience in federal electric utility regulation, representing clients in a wide range of proceedings before FERC. He has done extensive work in hydroelectric licensing, mergers and acquisitions, financing, accounting matters, bulk-power rates, interconnection procedures and dispute resolution. Jim has helped power project developers obtain Qualified Facility status, and has advised numerous clients regarding regulations on independent power producers and marketers. His work includes regulatory assistance on nuclear power licensing and advising clients in organized wholesale electricity markets.

Jim's clients include: FirstEnergy Corp., Green Mountain Power Corp. and Tucson Electric Power Co.

Representative Experience

Counsel for Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP)

Project counsel to the Texas Clean Energy Project (TECP), a "NowGen" coal gasification carbon capture facility that will incorporate Carbon Capture and Sequestration technology in a first-of-its kind commercial power plant. (Ongoing)

Regulatory - electric for Gaz Me’tro LP and Green Mountain Power Corp.

Representing Gaz Me’tro LP and Green Mountain Power Corp. in FERC proceedings for authorization to acquire Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, and related proceedings. (Ongoing)

Regulatory - electric for utility companies

Regularly assists utility companies to comply with FERC rules, regulations and orders governing the sale of electricity at market-based rates, including FirstEnergy Corp., Green Mountain Power Corp., and NorthWestern Corp. (Ongoing)

Litigation for FirstEnergy Corporation

FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. and others have appealed FERC Orders permitting widely disparate charges for reactive power service supplied by different generators within the region served by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. that are not justified by differences in costs or otherwise. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the charges at issue were unduly discriminatory, and vacated the underlying FERC orders in which such charges had been approved. (D.C. Cir. 2011)

Litigation for Unisource Energy Services

FERC has ruled after completion of a full evidentiary hearing that Tucson Electric Power Company, a subsidiary of UniSource Energy, is entitled to have electricity transmitted by El Paso Electric Company from a newly constructed generation plant at Luna, N.M., to the Tucson Electric system under a 1982 agreement between Tucson Electric Power and El Paso Electric. In so doing, FERC rejected El Paso Electric's claim that Tucson Electric Power was required to purchase and pay for such service under El Paso Electric's open access transmission tariff. (D.C. Cir. 2011)

Professional & Community Activities

Energy Bar Association
Legal Committee, Edison Electric Institute

Education

J.D., University of Idaho College of Law
- Articles Editor, University of Idaho Law Review
- Graduated First in Class
M.B.A., New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business
B.S., Cornell University