Speakers

Mary Baker
K&L Gates

Mary Burke Baker is a Government Affairs Counselor in the Washington, DC office of K&L Gates, where she leads the Tax Policy practice. Mary focuses on federal tax matters affecting domestic and multinational corporations and pass-through entities. Her practice covers tax policy, tax reform, tax regulations and other guidance, tax administration, and technical tax issues. Mary’s many years of experience at the IRS, the Senate Finance Committee, and the firm have uniquely prepared her to help clients navigate the entire life cycle of tax policy, including tax administration, the regulatory process, and the legislative process. She represents many clients on energy tax incentives, including successfully advocating for several policies on the Hill and with Treasury on a broad array of Inflation Reduction Act and One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax credits, and assisting businesses in understanding and implementing the law and regulations.   Mary believes that communication and collaboration is important, including working with clients to understand their business in order to better understand their policy needs, and with colleagues, other federal agencies, the Hill, and stakeholders to provide a 360 perspective on issues.

Mr. Burns is a Shareholder in the Pittsburgh office of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC. He is a member of the firm’s Energy Section and Environmental Practice Group and focuses his practice on environmental law and its intersections with natural resources issues, including coal, natural gas and other energy areas, real estate development, construction, commercial transactions,litigation, manufacturing, and waste. He has counseled clients regarding the acquisition, sale and/or lease of, and title to, coal and oil and gas interests, and regarding environmental regulation and permitting for the development and production of coal and oil and gas, as well as related infrastructure. He has also advised clients regarding the acquisition and development of alternative energy facilities including solar and wind facilities. Mr. Burns has also advised borrowers and financial institutions regarding acquisitions and extensions of credit for traditional and alternative energy generation facilities. He has counseled clients regarding the purchase, sale, and remediation of brownfields and other environmentally impacted and environmentally sensitive properties, and concerning the purchase, development, and construction of “green” buildings. Mr. Burns received his Juris Doctor from West Virginia University in 1994, where he was a student works editor for the West Virginia Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Burns received a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1991. He also received a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Marshall University in 2000. Prior to entering private practice, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Charles H. Haden, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and is admitted to practice before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the Northern District of West Virginia, and the Southern District of West Virginia.

Christopher Callas
Jackson Kelly

Christopher L. Callas is a member at Jackson Kelly PLLC practicing in the Firm’s Charleston, West Virginia, office. His practice centers on utility regulation and energy project development, advising traditional utility clients as well as energy project developers seeking to navigate the regulatory hurdles associated with siting wind, solar, gas, and other energy projects. Chris reckons that he has worked in some capacity on every wind project operating in West Virginia today.

 A dedicated practitioner with over a decade of experience representing energy industry clients in real estate development, transactions, financing, and litigation, Daniel provides high-level legal counsel and advocacy to renewable energy project developers, landowners, and offtakers. His practice includes contracts, real estate title review and curative work, land use, zoning, and regulatory matters. His understanding of FERC-regulated wholesale power markets brings value to both energy developers and commercial or industrial clients purchasing bulk power through fixed or variable rate power purchase agreements. Daniel devotes considerable time and attention to understanding how the transitioning energy economy impacts the business and legal needs of his clients. His considerable experience representing clients in state and federal courts across Ohio and Pennsylvania gives him strong insight into identifying and mitigating risks to successful project development. 

Jim Curry
Babst Calland

Jim is an energy lawyer with 19 years of experience in government service and private practice helping
clients navigate regulatory and strategic challenges throughout the energy sector. His clients include
pipelines, LNG terminals, investors, utilities, technology companies and hydrogen and CCS infrastructure developers. Jim’s experience includes internal and government investigations, rulemaking, energy project development strategy, safety enforcement, federal and state policy and legislation, transaction due diligence, appellate litigation, and regulatory counseling. Through these experiences, he has developed a unique understanding of safety and regulatory risk management, corporate safety culture and how each affects credibility and the bottom line. He manages the Firm’s growing DC office and serves on the Firm’s Management Committee and Board of Directors.

Greg Dutton
Frost Brown Todd

Greg is a partner in Frost Brown Todd’s Louisville, Kentucky, who focuses his practice on environmental compliance and litigation, utility regulation, and energy law. Greg is particularly experienced in matters concerning wastewater discharge permitting, Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (APCD) permitting and enforcement defense, and the cleanup/sale/purchase of contaminated/Brownfield sites.  He is a graduate of Miami University and Pace Law School.

Kathryn Eckert
Frost Brown Todd

Kathryn is a partner in Frost Brown Todd’s Lexington, Kentucky, office who focuses her practice on energy and public utilities law with an emphasis on regulatory and permitting compliance.  Kathryn also has an extensive background in general litigation and represents clients with complex legal issues in both state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels.  She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, and the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law.

Roger G. Hanshaw is a partner in the Charleston office of Bowles Rice who concentrates his legal practice on the environmental and technical issues that arise in business transactions, as well as regulatory compliance matters and litigation for a diverse client base. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame. Roger is a certified professional parliamentarian and regularly counsels government bodies and nonprofit organizations throughout the state and nation on meeting procedures, parliamentary law, bylaws construction and convention management. He is also a certified magistrate court mediator and board of directors member for the West Virginia Farm Bureau. He is a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 33 (Calhoun, Clay and Gilmer Counties), and serves as Speaker. 

Kara Herrnstein 
Bricker Graydon 

 Kara Herrnstein helps drive energy innovation across Ohio and Kentucky, with a focus on new generation and infrastructure development. She advises developers throughout the entire project lifecycle—from securing land access and navigating permitting to structuring financing and supporting ongoing operations. Her work includes pioneering behind-the-meter solutions and other first-of-their-kind projects. Kara also represents a range of energy companies in litigation matters. 

 Her practice is grounded in a commitment to helping clients build a smarter, more efficient, and inclusive energy market in the Appalachian region.  

Robert Hillyer is a Kentucky-licensed attorney working as an associate in the Louisville office of Frost Brown Todd as a part of the commercial real estate practice group. Robert has represented clients on a number of transactions involving commercial scale solar energy projects in Kentucky including acquisitions, leasing, and financing. Robert has advised utilities and developers in all stages of acquiring and developing utility-scale solar generation projects —from site acquisition and title review to permitting, easements, and long-term lease structuring — and a multi-national grocery store company in deploying EV charging stations. Robert is an active member of the Kentucky Bar Association and the Louisville Bar Association, where he is a member of the Real Estate and Environmental Law Sections. Robert received his J.D. from the University of Georgia, during which time he worked with a consulting group providing advice to clients regarding the development of green infrastructure, and an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Kent State University. 

Brian Jett 
Jackson Kelly 

Brian Jett is an attorney with Jackson Kelly and practices out of the Morgantown, WV office, where he is a member of the Renewable Energy Group as well as the Land and Natural Resources Practice Group. Brian is a 2012 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. Brian’s career has focused primarily on advising clients on various issues related to energy development and real estate matters. This includes working as real estate project counsel for renewable energy companies in multiple states (West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana), providing title insurance and/or working with title insurance companies to acquire title insurance policies for projects, and advising on issues as they arise. In addition, Brian has advised and assisted producers of traditional energy sources on large transactional matters, led large due diligence projects for the acquisition of assets, as well as drafted and/or reviewed thousands of title opinions on properties located throughout the Appalachian Basin. Brian’s experience gives him a unique perspective regarding the interplay between renewable energy sources and traditional sources of energy. 

Benedict Kirchner
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Ben Kirchner is a member in Steptoe & Johnson PLLC’s Meadville, Pennsylvania office. He focuses his practice on traditional and renewable energy land matters throughout Appalachia and the Midcontinent. He also assists energy and other companies with supply chain, foreign investment matters, and international trade and related compliance issues. He is an active member of the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation, the Institute for Energy Law, and the Marcellus Shale Coalition, and is currently serving on the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association International Law Section as its Policy/Government Affairs Officer.

Laurie Bink Purpuro
K&L Gates

Laurie Purpuro is a government affairs counselor in the firm’s Public Policy and Law group. She focuses on energy, sustainability, and agriculture innovation policy.

Prior to joining the firm, Laurie served as senior policy advisor to the Secretary of the US Department of Energy. She has more than 10 years of experience on Capitol Hill working for Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) as deputy chief of staff, and for Congressman Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and Congressman Bob Davis (R-MI) as Legislative Director. Laurie has advised members of Congress on issues including the environment, energy, tax, interior, agriculture, and appropriations.

Laurie Purpuro’s  (Washington, D.C.) practice has been focused on the intersection of the energy industry and federal and state government policy for three decades, working closely with the US Departments of Energy and Agriculture and Congress to advance clients’ business goals.  Her client base includes renewable and clean energy clients, with a focus on renewable fuel, energy efficiency, solar, water power, industrial emissions reduction and hydrogen, as well as clients in the chemical, maritime education and agriculture spaces.  Most recently, this work has included work on emissions reduction policy, including carbon utilization, and innovative agricultural policy issues. 

John E. Rhine is a partner and co-chair of the Energy Practice Group at Dentons, focusing on the upstream energy sector.  His practice encompasses advising clients on coal, oil, and gas production, carbon sequestration and related financing, mergers and acquisitions.  He is a member and Trustee of EMLF and is past chair of the Mineral Law Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association.  John received his J.D. from the University of Illinois. 

Andreas Wokutch 
Frost Brown Todd 

Andreas Wokutch is a Kentucky and California-licensed attorney working as a Partner in the Louisville office of Frost Brown Todd. He began his career as an in-house attorney with a large public utility company, where he gained experience advising on energy development projects, large-scale contracts, financing transactions, and compliance with energy laws. Andreas works on a broad range of commercial real estate, corporate, and commercial contracting matters in a variety of sectors.  With regard to the energy sector, he has represented utility companies in acquiring and developing utility-scale solar generation projects, solar developers in securing land/site control rights, and a multi-national grocery store company in deploying EV charging stations. Additionally, Andreas has assisted with the acquisition of land and financing for an EV battery recycling plant in Kentucky, EV station build-outs through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, and negotiating a portfolio-wide service contract for installing large-scale battery storage facilities in California for a publicly-traded REIT. Andreas received his J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School and an undergraduate degree in Government from The College of William and Mary.