Barbara D. Craig

Experience

Barbara Craig is a partner of the firm practicing in the Natural Resources and Land Use group. She focuses her practice on federal environmental and natural resources law with an emphasis on endangered species compliance, and forestry and energy facility permitting and compliance issues. Barbara has extensive experience on issues involving the Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Forest Management Act (NFMA), Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Federal Power Act, Natural Gas Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA) and Administrative Procedures Act. Representative clients include forestry companies and associations, ports, pulp and paper interests, developers and owners of hydropower dams, wind energy projects, utilities, and oil and gas facilities in complex permitting matters.

Prior Experience

Governor Kulongoski appointed Barbara to the Oregon Board of Forestry, where she served from 2004 through 2008. Barbara also served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert C. Belloni, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, and has assisted Judge Owen M. Panner, Judge Malcom F. Marsh and Judge James A. Redden, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, in cases involving NEPA, the NFMA and the ESA.

Barbara has her B.S. in Forest Management from Oregon State University and worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a project forester for five years in the Leavenworth Ranger District in the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington. As a project forester, she was responsible for all aspects of timber management, including NEPA documents, silvicultural prescriptions, sale design, field layout, contract compilation and appraisal. She was a member of the Redmond Hotshot Crew, fighting forest fires in the region. Before joining the Forest Service, she worked as a private contractor for four years, procuring labor contracts in forestry for activities such as reforestation, slash piling, fire-line construction and precommercial thinning.

Representative Work

ESA Compliance and Litigation

• Assisted timberland owners in Washington and Oregon with strategy and development of a Safe Harbor Agreement for the northern spotted owl under the ESA. The FWS critical habitat designation excludes 81,587 acres of client lands covered by the SHA.
• Advised utilities and wind energy developers on ESA, MBTA and Bald and Golden Eagle Act issues, including commenting on FWS guidance and Avian Bat Protection Plans (ABPP's).
• Advise energy company in ESA section 7 consultation and MMPA compliance strategy related to proposed construction and operation of energy facility and pipeline in Pacific Northwest.
• Advised Potlatch Corp. in development of ESA strategy and section 7 consultations for its discharge permit under the CWA for the company's Lewiston, Idaho pulp and paper mill, and successfully defended consultation in litigation.
• Represented intervenor Longview Fibre Company in litigation brought by environmental plaintiffs against the State of Oregon under the ESA.  In PRC v. Brown, plaintiffs alleged that the State Forester was in violation of the ESA by approving timber harvest plans that could impact streams where listed fish were found.  Due to a variety of circumstances, including revisions to the Oregon Forest Practices Act and the de-listing of the Coho, the court ultimately dismissed the case.
• Represent utility in development and implementation of relicensing strategy as it relates to hydropower projects' habitat conservation plans (HCPs). Assisted in development of successful ESA strategy to obtain HCP incidental take permits for two hydroelectric projects after nine–year permitting effort. Advised client on bull trout ESA consultation and successfully negotiated U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service terms and conditions for bull trout. Continue to advise client on HCP issues related to hatcheries and ongoing compliance.
• Negotiated and drafted decommissioning settlement agreement for hydroelectric project in Washington, resolving all issues related to interim project operations and project decommissioning involving numerous stakeholders, including American Rivers, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Yakama Nation and Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. Negotiated a related agreement under which the U.S. Department of Justice, acting in its capacity for Indian tribes, and four Indian tribes released potential claims against client.
• Advised coalition of private and public utilities on ESA compliance for the operation of the Federal Columbia River Hydropower System. Successfully defended in federal district court against a preliminary injunction that could have resulted in the judge running the operations of the river at great cost to the region and with a large loss of flexibility and reliability to the hydropower system. Successfully assisted in the development of a biological opinion pursuant to the court's remand order.
• Advised utility on interim ESA consultation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its ongoing hydroelectric operations, fortuitously providing incidental take coverage before a catastrophic event occurred. Represented the same utility in excluding its FERC project lands from being designated as critical habitat on the basis of its prior ESA compliance strategy.
• Advised private utility in ESA consultation, including the Lost River and shortnose suckers and coho, for its FERC hydroelectric project with the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FERC and National Marine Fisheries Service. Successfully defended the ESA consultation compliance through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Advised industrial developer in all permitting associated with building a fabrication plant, including ESA compliance for Bradshaw's lomatium. Successfully defended ESA consultation in litigation through the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals without any injunctive relief. 

Professional Honors & Activities

• Listed in Best Lawyers in America® (currently: Natural Resources Law), 2009-2013
• Selected by Best Lawyers® as Portland Natural Resources Law Lawyer of the Year, 2011
• Selected as one of "America's Leading Lawyers for Business" (Oregon) by Chambers USA (currently: Environment), 2010-2012
• Recipient of the Ted Young Stewardship Award from OFIC, 2009

Presentations

• "Teaming to Build a Defensible Record," 2011
• "Eagles and Wind Farms - Can't We All Just Get Along?" 2011
• Moderator, "Renewable Energy and the Endangered Species Act: Advancing Sustainable Energy While Protecting Wildlife," ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources Law Summit, 2010
• "Avian Laws and Wind Energy Development," 2010
• Moderator, "The Might Columbia," The Seminar Group, 2007
• "Demystifying the Endangered Species Act," Law Seminars International: Land Use in Southwestern Washington, 2007
• "Hatchery Policy & Steelhead 'Downlisting' Invalidated," The Seminar Group CLE Webcast, Seattle, 2007
• "New Legal Standards and Requirements: A Status Report, The Endangered Species Act," National Hydropower Association Annual Conference, 2006
• "A Primer on the Endangered Species Act: The Species List, Take Prohibition, Permits & Federal Consultation Requirements," 2006
• Moderator, "The Mighty Columbia – A River for All," The Seminar Group, 2005
• "Endangered Species Act: New Changes and How They May Affect You," 2005
• "The Present and Future of HCPs: With or Without 'No Surprises,' Habitat Conservation Plans and "No Surprise Rule""Panel, 2005
• "ESA and FERC Relicensing, PacifiCorp Case Study: Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects," National Hydropower Conference, 2005
• "Major Court Decision Affecting Critical Habitat in the Gifford Pinchot Case," National Hydropower Conference, 2004
• "The Intricate Interplay Between CWA and ESA Issues," ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, 2002

Publications

• "Avian Impacts and the Law," Compliance and Conservation Strategies for Permitting Projects, 2011
• "Endangered Species Act: Endangered Species Act Developments," Oregon Insider, 2005
• "National Forest Planning & Anadromous Fish Protection: A Trilogy of NEPA Cases," Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation, 1988

Education

• Lewis & Clark Law School, J.D., 1987
  Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
  Cornelius Honor Society
• Oregon State University, B.S., Forest Management, 1980

Admissions

• Washington
• Oregon
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

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