Power & Data Centers
Data center development requires integrated legal strategy across interconnected regulatory domains. Data centers must navigate complex environments where power strategy, water rights, air and other permitting, land use approvals, and environmental justice considerations collectively determine project viability and success. At Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, our Power & Data Centers Group delivers the multidisciplinary experience necessary to successfully represent stakeholders – including hyperscalers, developers, investors, independent power producers, and midstream providers – through all phases of project lifecycles.
Land Use
Data center site selection requires sophisticated regulatory risk assessment beyond traditional real estate and environmental due diligence. The Davis Graham Power & Data Centers Group navigates diverse land use frameworks, from discretionary special use permits for major electrical facilities and utility infrastructure to municipal conditional use processes and state-level siting authorities.
Our lawyers guide clients through site selection that integrates regulatory risk assessment (critical habitat designations, wetlands, wildfire exposure, water availability), structure proactive community engagement strategies that address local concerns before formal hearings, and negotiate development agreements securing property tax abatements, expedited processing commitments, and vested development rights. We understand that early site selection determines permit pathways, water strategy, interconnection timelines, and ultimately, project feasibility.
Energy Contracts & Co-Located Generation
Utility interconnection constraints and capacity limitations increasingly drive data center developers toward co-located generation strategies. We negotiate power purchase agreements, fuel supply agreements, and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts for natural gas reciprocating engines, combustion turbines, solar-plus-BESS configurations, and emerging hybrid generation technologies across multiple utility service territories and regulatory jurisdictions.
Our team structures behind-the-meter and networked co-location arrangements that navigate FERC jurisdictional boundaries, state public utility commission oversight, and emerging large-load tariff frameworks. We leverage deep experience in oil and gas, clean and renewable power, midstream infrastructure, and power generation to deliver integrated solutions that align generation strategy with air permitting, water rights, BESS fire code compliance, and utility interconnection requirements.
Energy & Environmental Regulatory
Data centers face layered regulatory oversight across federal, state, Tribal, and local jurisdictions. The Davis Graham team has experience navigating:
- Air Quality Permitting: Representing clients in obtaining state environmental agency construction and operation permits for co-located generation, including major and synthetic minor source permits, which includes navigating dispersion modeling and environmental justice requirements. Represented clients in state environmental agency enforcement actions and conducting environmental audits.
- Water Rights & Augmentation Plans: Navigating prior appropriation jurisdictions requiring water court adjudications and augmentation plans, securing municipal water service agreements, and structuring reuse water contracts. We recognize that water strategy often determines project viability before construction begins.
- Utility Interconnection & Large-Load Tariffs: Representation in state public utility commission and ISO/RTO proceedings addressing interconnection study processes, network upgrade cost allocation, large-load tariff development, and co-located generation regulatory treatment.
- Federal and Tribal Land Development: For projects on federal and Tribal lands, we coordinate Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs approvals, National Environmental Policy Act compliance (Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements), Endangered Species Act compliance, National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 compliance related to cultural resources, and Tribal council approvals.
- Other Permitting & Regulatory Compliance: Helping clients identify and obtain the universe of other applicable federal, state, and local permits and regulatory approvals for projects, including permits and requirements associated with the Clean Water Act (e.g., stormwater discharge, CWA § 404), storage tanks and spill prevention, hazardous materials and waste management, mitigation and decommissioning, and local building, transportation, and road use.
Successful data center development requires integrating legal strategy across permitting, power, water, tax, and community engagement from project inception. Our team works in parallel – not sequentially – ensuring that cooling decisions inform air permitting pathways, power strategies align with utility coordination, site selection accounts for regulatory exposure, and tax structuring maximizes available incentives. Whether you’re evaluating hyperscale facilities, pursuing co-located generation, navigating Tribal partnership opportunities, or assessing competitive market positioning, we deliver the sophisticated counsel that transforms regulatory complexity into strategic advantage.
