A New Era for Oil and Gas: Executive Orders and Policy Shifts Under the Trump Administration

Jim W. Noe | Holland & Knight

James W. Noe is a government attorney in Holland & Knight’s Washington, D.C., and Houston offices who co-chairs the firm’s Oil and Gas Practice. Mr. Noe provides legislative and regulatory advocacy to energy, oil and gas, maritime, construction and other industry clients in a broad range of transactions and disputes. Mr. Noe also has a long history of representing buyers and sellers in complex merger, acquisition and disposition transactions.

Mr. Noe helps businesses and trade groups address a broad range of energy issues, both from a governmental relations perspective as well as confronting regulatory hurdles, disputes and investigations, especially in the context of energy development on federal lands and waters. Mr. Noe represents companies in investigations conducted by Congress or federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), relating to alleged regulatory violations that could lead to civil or criminal enforcement action. He regularly challenges federal agency action in administrative and court actions, and Mr. Noe has a substantial practice before the Department of Interior’s Board of Land Appeals challenging federal energy policies and actions. He provides effective government relations and lobbying counsel to clients by drawing upon his comprehensive skill set, global business relationships, familiarity with the legislative and regulatory corridors of Washington, D.C., and other national capitals, as well as his work in major commercial and financial centers across Europe, Asia and Africa.

In addition, Mr. Noe has experience acting as lead negotiator and senior attorney in numerous transactions, including multibillion-dollar sales, acquisitions and mergers. He routinely conducts internal investigations and represents clients facing agency inquiries and law enforcement investigations involving Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) securities law and other regulatory compliance matters. Mr. Noe also provides effective crisis and media management counsel.

Over the course of his lengthy career, Mr. Noe has personally led and managed hundreds of multinational business formations, corporate launches, investment deals, commercial transactions and infrastructure projects around the world. Among his numerous high-profile engagements was his appointment as primary advocate and spokesman for energy-industry participants following the Macondo (Deepwater Horizon) oil spill. As executive director of the Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition, he testified regularly before U.S. Senate and House committees and held numerous meetings with congressional leaders, White House officials and agency leadership on issues facing exploration and development companies, drilling contractors and oilfield service companies. One of his many accomplishments while serving in this role was to persuade the federal government to end the impasse that had delayed the issuance of new shallow-water drilling permits and had threatened the financial viability of businesses across this vital sector.

Early in his career as a litigator in the oil and gas drilling rig and vessel space, Mr. Noe successfully argued and won numerous cases before state and federal courts, including high-profile shipbuilding disputes heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. After time in private practice, Mr. Noe was named merger and acquisition (M&A) counsel of a French Dutch offshore oil and gas maritime and technology company based in Monaco, for which he led numerous cross-border business initiatives and acquisitions and dispositions often involving assets, operations and investments on multiple continents. Subsequently, he joined a leading global provider of oil and gas well services, where he served as chief corporate counsel and became a member of the executive management team overseeing matters in more than 140 countries, including significant operations in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

Mr. Noe was one of the original members of the management team of Hercules Offshore Inc., joining as senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary. In that role, he managed Hercules’ initial public offering (IPO) and numerous follow-on offerings and built the public-company regulatory and compliance infrastructure. He was the lead negotiator on numerous acquisitions, divestitures and mergers worth billions of dollars cumulatively, including the company’s $2.3 billion merger with TODCO. In his role as general counsel, he ensured compliance with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations and was responsible for all regulatory affairs, public relations and risk management.

Mr. Noe was also CEO and executive director for CH Offshore Ltd. in Singapore. In that capacity, he managed the company and its fleet of offshore supply and support vessels operating in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Mexico. On behalf of CH’s affiliate companies, he oversaw the construction of a fleet of high-specification offshore drilling rigs in Singapore and China, advised and represented large Chinese companies in cross-border transactions, and managed the legal and technical aspects of rig construction disputes.

Jason A. Hill | Holland & Knight

Jason Hill is an attorney in Holland & Knight’s Houston office, and a member of the Public Policy & Regulation Group. Mr. Hill counsels clients through complex natural resource litigation, compliance and regulatory issues arising under a wide array of federal natural resource and energy statutes and regulations.

With more than 25 years of experience in the environmental and natural resources space, Mr. Hill provides clients with strategic solutions to business and operational challenges set in motion by intricate natural resource laws. He has particular knowledge of statutes and regulations surrounding federal public lands, extraction of mineral resources, renewable energy projects, environmental justice, and sensitive resource preservation and protection.

With a background in administrative law, as it relates to energy and mineral resource issues, Mr. Hill provides guidance on compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA), National Forest Management Act (NFMA), Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), Indian Mineral Development Act (IMDA), Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act (FOGRMA), and many other federal land management and environmental statutes.

Mr. Hill’s understanding of regulations and the agencies that enforce them stems from his government experience. Previously, he served in several high-ranking positions at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), including as the chief administrative judge of the Interior Board of Land Appeals, the deputy solicitor for the Energy and Mineral Resources and as senior counselor to the director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In addition, Mr. Hill also served as a trial attorney for a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Natural Resources Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he was lead attorney in defense of numerous challenges brought through the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), with a particular emphasis on cases brought under various natural resource and land management regulations. Mr. Hill deploys this experience when helping clients navigate federal agency programs, operations and regulatory developments.

Mr. Hill addresses client matters in a holistic fashion while recognizing the particular factors and internal operations of federal agencies to develop strategic solutions for his clients. He is familiar with the regulatory frameworks utilized by the BLM, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) and the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA).

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Hill was an attorney for an international law firm in its Houston office.

Mr. Hill is also an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center, where he teaches the Practice of Environmental Law.

I. Increasing domestic oil and gas production, including increasing oil and gas development on public lands and offshore waters | 1:00pm – 1:25pm

II. Reversing or revising oil and gas and energy policy initiatives advanced by the Biden administration, including the potential fate of programs advanced under the Inflation Reduction Act | 1:25pm – 1:45pm

III. Improving and reducing government regulations and administrative burdens related to oil and gas development | 1:45pm – 2:00pm