Kerry L. McGrath

Kerry has more than 15 years of wide-ranging experience handling novel and complex energy, environmental, and administrative law issues. She is particularly knowledgeable regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA), Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program, Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), as well as other environmental statutes. Kerry’s clients derive from a variety of industry sectors, including utilities, mining, oil and gas, renewables, agriculture, consumer products, housing and development, and related trade associations and industry coalitions. Those clients leverage her thorough legal analyses to build comprehensive regulatory and compliance strategies tailored to their business objectives.

Kerry regularly assists applicants in obtaining and defending federal permits and navigating environmental reviews for complicated energy and development projects. She has extensive experience advising clients on permitting and compliance for energy infrastructure and mining development, including serving as project counsel for power generating facilities, oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines, and mining and mineral exploration projects; carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); new wind and solar generation; and battery storage projects.

• Lead counsel defending CCS project proponents’ EPA UIC Class VI permits in EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) proceedings.
• Project counsel for electric transmission line project involving NEPA review, tribal consultation, historic preservation issues, and species consultation.
• Project counsel for mining clients, including recent successes for mining and exploration projects obtaining US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management authorizations and associated NEPA reviews, ESA consultations, and tribal consultations.
• Advises carbon storage project proponents in obtaining Class VI permits from EPA and state permitting agencies.
• Assists mining clients in FAST-41 permitting process.
• Represents utility in federal district court litigation defending NEPA reviews for new natural gas plant projects.
• Advised offshore wind project proponent on CWA and Rivers and Harbors Act permitting and related requirements, including for offshore and onshore transmission line components.
• Advises transportation client on NEPA issues for new train infrastructure with federal financing.
• Lead counsel on federal CWA section 404 permitting matter involving client’s new mines and mine extension projects in Florida, involving key NEPA, protected species, and wetlands issues, and defense of permit in federal court.
• Analyzes complex legal issues for an energy company, advising the client on strategic approaches to manage the EIS and permitting process. Representation involves coordinating with various agencies with responsibilities under NEPA, NHPA, ESA, and CWA.
• Advises electric utility clients on environmental issues associated with Department of Energy financing.
• Obtained a critical federal CWA NPDES discharge permit for facility on tribal land and successfully defended permit before the EPA EAB. The permit and related litigation involves essentially every major water issue EPA has addressed in the past few years, including “waters of the United States” jurisdictional determination, application of CWA section 316(b) requirements for cooling water intake structures, steam electric effluent limitation guidelines, hydrologic connection/Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) issues, water quality standards for features on tribal lands, and permit issues related to sovereign immunity.
• Represents developers, mining companies, agriculture interests, utilities, and pipeline companies on jurisdictional determinations, use of nationwide permits and other general permits, expedited permitting procedures, and mitigation requirements under CWA section 404.
• Provides long-term daily representation of an association of electric utilities on US water regulation developments, including development of many extensive technical and legal comments on EPA regulatory proposals.
• Counsels utilities on obtaining, renewing, and complying with state and federal NPDES permits, particularly for facilities with cooling water intake structures subject to CWA section 316(b) rule requirements.
• Advises clients on avian protection guidelines and related requirements and incidental take issues under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection.
• Counsels clients on the ESA section 7 consultation process for projects requiring federal permits and the ESA section 10 incidental take permit process for energy and development projects and operations.
• Advises electric utilities and other energy companies on permitting electric transmission and other structures across federal lands administered by the National Park Service and US Forest Service.
• Advises interstate natural gas pipelines on environmental permitting and siting matters; regulatory compliance and litigation under the CWA, ESA, NEPA, and other federal environmental laws; and the interplay between EPA, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) regulations.
• Assists mineral exploration companies with application processes for exploration drilling on mining claims.

• Named a Rising Star in the District of Columbia (2026) and to the “40 & Under Hot List” (2018-2024), Benchmark Litigation
• Recommended for Environment: Regulatory (2021-2025) and Environment: Litigation (2021-2024), Legal 500 United States
• Selected as a member of the Top 500 Leading Energy Lawyers (2025), Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law (2023-2024), and Top 500 Environmental and Energy Lawyers (2021), Lawdragon
• Named an Environmental Rising Star (2021), Law360

• Chair, Project Development Committee, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
• Member, Women’s Energy Network
• Chair, Environmental Justice & Stakeholder Engagement Committee, The CCUS Commercialization Acceleration Consortium by Southern States Energy Board & University of Houston’s Center for Carbon Management in Energy