Rick Capozza

Rick chairs Barclay Damon’s Energy Practice Area, leads its Electric Power Team, and co-leads its Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas, and Linear Infrastructure Teams. He is the primary relationship manager for the firm’s largest energy and utility clients. His practice brings together energy and environmental work across mergers and acquisitions, financing, restructuring, project development, regulatory compliance and permitting.

Rick represents electric-power generators across renewable, fossil-fuel and nuclear generation, as well as electric utilities, oil and gas producers, pipelines and developers. He advises oil and gas clients on Marcellus Shale development and the siting of related infrastructure. His work also extends to Fortune 500 companies and manufacturers in sectors including aerospace and defense, medical devices, petroleum distribution, retail, plastics, pharmaceuticals, aluminum, paper and steel.

As lead attorney on several large energy-related transactions, Rick has handled the transfer, acquisition and modification of federal and state environmental permits in multi-facility energy and manufacturing mergers and acquisitions, addressing the permits needed for operations after closing. He negotiates contractual protections and financial safeguards concerning environmental liabilities. His work with contaminated legacy sites combines legal and technical strategies to resolve liability and limit financial exposure. It includes complex Superfund sites involving contaminated waterways and sediments, multiple third parties and sources, and natural resource damages.

Rick regularly represents clients in project development, permitting, compliance and enforcement matters under federal environmental regulations and their state counterparts, including the CAA, CWA, EPCRA, RCRA and TSCA. He counsels clients on responding to and reporting chemical and petroleum spills and releases under federal and state law. He also works with laws and regulations governing wildlife resources, including the Endangered Species Act, CITES, the Lacey Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and co-leads the firm’s Outdoor & Wildlife Team.

• Syracuse University College of Law, JD
• State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, BS, Magna Cum Laude

• New York

• Ad-Hoc Industry Natural Resources Damage Group
• Air & Waste Management Association
• Independent Power Producers of New York
• Institute for Energy Law Advisory Board
• National Hydropower Association
• American Bar Association, Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Section
• Federal Energy Bar Association

• Attorney at Law Magazine, “Energy & Utilities Practice Area Profile: Marcellus Shale”
• Oil and Gas Financial Journal, “Marcellus Shale: A Modern-Day Gold Rush”
• Thomson Reuters/Aspatore’s The Legal Impact of Climate Change: Leading Lawyers on Preparing for New Environmental Legislation, Assessing Green Programs for Clients, and Working With Government Agencies on Climate Change Issues (Inside the Minds), “Climate Change Issues Affect Corporate Risks and Opportunities” Chapter