SAN FRANCISCO, September 30, 2011:  Farella Braun + Martel LLP served as First Solar’s environmental, real estate and permitting counsel on the development and financing of First Solar’s Desert Sunlight Solar Farm project, a 550-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic facility located on approximately 4,000 acres of land administered by the BLM in Riverside County. 

 

As First Solar's go-to lawyers for environmental, real estate and project permitting needs, Farella has assisted First Solar in securing the permits, approvals, federal lease, franchise interests and other rights necessary from federal, state and local government agencies for the Desert Sunlight project to be approved, constructed and operated, including those required by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, Riverside County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  The firm has also assisted First Solar in negotiating protest settlement agreements with major environmental organizations addressing environmental, natural resource and cultural resource concerns.

 

Farella’s legal team for First Solar’s Desert Sunlight project included Environmental Partners David Lazerwitz, Jon Benjamin, Skip Spaulding and Buzz Hines, Real Estate Partner Richard Rabbitt, Land Use Special Counsel Ilene Dick, Environmental Special Counsel John Epperson, Environmental Associates Mathew Swain and Matthew Bostick, Real Estate Associates Karen Jue and Navjot Athwal and Senior Paralegal Scott Leonard.  Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP’s New York office advised First Solar on the corporate and transactional aspects of the financing.

  

Farella Braun + Martel represents clients throughout the United States and abroad in sophisticated business transactions and high-stakes commercial, civil and criminal litigation. Founded in 1962, the firm is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains an office in the Napa Valley focused on the wine industry. Farella Braun + Martel lawyers are known for their imaginative legal solutions, dynamism and intellectual creativity. With an unwavering service ethic and interdisciplinary team approach, the firm is committed to advancing clients' objectives in the most effective, coordinated and efficient manner. Farella Braun + Martel is a green business. www.fbm.com

 

Contacts:

Melinda Hepp / Traci Stuart 
Blattel Communications
415.397.4811 
[email protected] / [email protected]

Cheryl Loof
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
415.954.4433 / [email protected]