Patricia T Barmeyer

Ms. Barmeyer’s recent legal experience includes: 

• Obtaining and defending all permits for the construction and operation of Plant Washington, a proposed 800 MW $2.4 billion coal-fired power plant for a consortium of EMCs in Georgia, in the face of multiple challenges by local and national environmental groups.  The PSD permit was affirmed by an administrative law judge in January 2010; a permit amendment addressing MACT issues has been issued by the agency, and further litigation is anticipated.  Permits to withdraw surface water and groundwater and to discharge cooling water have now been finally upheld. 
  
  
• Defending permits for the construction and operation of LS Power’s 1200 MW $2.1 billion coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia against challenges by local and national environmental groups.  After a numerous hearings and appeals, all permits were finally obtained and affirmed.  See Longleaf Energy Associates, LLC v. Friends of the Chattahoochee, Inc., 2009 Ga. App. LEXIS 787 (2009).  (The project was abandoned by LS Power as part of a global settlement with Sierra Club.)
  
  
• Representing the Atlanta Regional Commission, the City of Atlanta and other local water supply providers in the protracted and multifaceted tri-state “water wars” litigation brought in multiple federal courts. A significant win was recently achieved when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the order of the district court that would have severely curtailed the water supply available for the metropolitan Atlanta area.  In re MDL Tri-State Water Rights Litigation, 644 F.3d 1160 (2011 11th Cir.).  Another recent accomplishment in this case is the successful defense against requests for injunctive relief on endangered species claims brought by Florida. 
  
  
• Lead counsel in a landmark case establishing the limited jurisdictional scope of the Georgia Coastal Marshlands Protection Act, after lower courts and administrative tribunals had misinterpreted the statute, causing uncertainty and delay for landowners developing property on the Georgia coast.  Coastal Marshlands Protection Committee v. Center for a Sustainable Coast, 286 Ga. App. 518 (2007), affd. 284 Ga. 736 (2008).
  
  
• Representation of local government water supply providers in regulatory and litigation matters relating to permits for reservoirs, rights to withdraw water from existing public and private reservoirs and other water rights issues.  Successful defense in a Georgia administrative appeal and in federal court of challenges to Section 401 water quality certification and Section 404 dredge and fill permit issued to the Henry County Water & Sewerage Authority for construction of a water supply reservoir.
  
  
• Obtained summary judgment for the defense in a Superfund case brought by the State of New York by persuading the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to correct its own precedent and to apply traditional common law principles to determine that an asset purchaser had no liability under NY law or Superfund for the pollution caused by the seller, since it was an arms-length transaction of assets only, with no continuity of ownership between seller and buyer.  State of New York v. National Service Industries, Inc., 460 F.3d 201 (2nd Cir. 2006).
  
  
• Lead counsel for the State of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Transportation in multiple lawsuits brought by environmental groups related to compliance with the Clean Air Act and transportation conformity requirements in the Metropolitan Atlanta non-attainment area, including successful defense of an action seeking to invalidate the $1.9 billion three-year transportation plan for the Atlanta area.  Sierra Club et al. v. Atlanta Regional Commission, 171 F. Supp. 2d 1349 (N.D. Ga. 2001) (denying plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction), affirmed on appeal.
  
  
• As a Senior Assistant Attorney General, lead counsel for the State of Georgia in an original action in the United States Supreme Court involving the State boundary, State waters and property rights, including the lateral seaward boundary.  Georgia v. South Carolina, 497 U.S. 376 (1990).