Miguel integrates energy law, public policy and regulatory compliance to solve complex legal and business challenges for sophisticated energy, natural resources, environmental and blockchain clients.
Miguel’s experience has placed him at the nexus of business and energy, land-use, environmental and natural resources law. He represents a variety of clients involved in the development of renewable energy projects, providing regulatory counsel and big picture thinking that helps get projects across the finish line.
Drawing from a dual background in private practice and as in-house counsel to a Fortune 300 energy company, Miguel is deeply conversant with industry trends and approaches each project with fresh eyes and an appetite for innovation. He has routinely served as lead counsel before various administrative bodies in Texas and New Mexico, including the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) and the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED). Miguel has led complicated regulatory filings from inception to completion, including retail electric provider licensing, ERCOT Market Participant registrations and compliance, fixed fuel factors, fuel reconciliations and refunds, distribution cost recovery factors, transmission cost recovery factors, generation cost recovery factors, smart meter deployment, and certificates of convenience and necessity for transmission projects, distribution projects, utility-scale wind and solar, and backup generation projects.
Alongside his regulatory work, Miguel also assists with real estate transactions, often weighing in on environmental and regulatory issues involved in the sale of real property. He is particularly knowledgeable about water law, and he frequently assists clients in the acquisition of water rights alongside broader real estate transactions.
Parallel to his renewable energy, environmental and real estate practices, Miguel has worked with colleagues to develop a full Husch Blackwell cryptocurrency and blockchain practice group team to serve the various legal needs of blockchain clients. He has counseled public officials and private companies in connection with cryptocurrency and energy use, including how mining operations can utilize flared natural gas produced by shale fracking to power bitcoin mining facilities, and he has assisted bitcoin operators in acquiring power, connecting to the ERCOT grid, and with various regulatory compliance issues. With a strong interest in bitcoin’s potential to make existing energy grids more efficient and resilient, Miguel has also done extensive writing on the intersection of bitcoin and energy regulatory law.
Miguel’s knowledge and experience have facilitated an active role with ERCOT’s Large Flexible Load Task Force (LFLTF), where he helps develop the recommendations that will formalize regulations applying primarily to the cryptocurrency miners who have large but flexible energy needs. Miguel is also a member of the bitcoin mining subcommittee of the Texas Blockchain Council.