Brian Bell

Environmental Law

• Represented clients in negotiating settlements with state and federal environmental protection agencies for alleged violations of environmental laws and permits. 
• Negotiated a no-penalty administrative consent order between industrial client and the Environmental Protection Agency after the Agency initially proposed a six-figure settlement. 
• Advised client on self-reporting violations of toxic release inventory (TRI) requirements, allowing the company to avoid a penalty. 
• Northern Iron, LLC v. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Court File No. 62-CV-24-3170 (Minn. 2d Jud. Dist): Obtained a preliminary injunction preventing the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency from enforcing provisions of an administrative order that would have led to manufacturer closing. 
• State ex rel the Associated Contract Loggers & Truckers of Minn. v. N. States Power Co., Court File No. 11-CV-17-2090 (Minn. 9th Jud. Dist.): Successfully won dismissal of a Minnesota Environmental Rights Act lawsuit by a trade association against an investor-owned utility seeking to prevent the utility from closing a biomass power generation facility.
• Represented client in enforcement action, which was eventually dropped, before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for alleged violations of Clean Water Act permits.
• Secured favorable settlement on behalf of pet-food manufacturer in Clean Water Act citizens-suit matter. 
• Assisted manufacturer in obtaining liability protection through Minnesota’s brownfields program.
• Won an over 50 percent reduction in a metal-plating company’s unpaid sewer discharge fees.
• Persuaded the Environmental Protection Agency not to pursue enforcement action against a company that had neglected to make a release report under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).

Energy Law

• Represented clients in numerous siting and route permit proceedings before Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota regulatory commissions. 
• In re Enbridge Energy, 964 N.W.2d 173 (Minn. Ct. App. 2021): Represented group of crude oil shippers intervening in a contested case for a certificate of need for the replacement of a crude oil pipeline. The certificate was granted and sustained on judicial review.
• Tri-State Generation and Transmission Ass’n, 174 FERC ¶ 61,021 (2021) & 190 FERC ¶ 61,106 (2025): Secured acceptance by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of generation-and-transmission cooperative’s revised generator interconnection procedures and Order No. 2023 compliance. 
• Montana v. Talen Montana, LLC, 130 F.4th 675 (9th Cir. 2025). Represented investor-owned utility in district and appellate court against claims by the State of Montana that the State owned riverbed underlying client’s hydroelectric facilities. Obtained and defended judgment determining the State did not own the riverbed underlying nine of ten facilities at issue. 
• Shell Energy N. Am. (US), L.P. v. FERC, 107 F.4th 981, 984 (D.C. Cir. 2024): Successfully defended favorable agency decision regarding wholesale electric price cap on judicial review. 
• In re N. States Power Co., No. A15-1831, 2016 WL 3043122 (Minn. Ct. App. May 31, 2016): Successfully advocated for an investor-owned utility before a state utility board and appellate court related to its solar gardens program.
• Crow Wing Coop. Power & Light Co. v. Great River Energy, No. A18-0471, 2019 WL 114200 (Minn. Ct. App. Jan. 7, 2019): Won dismissal of the majority of claims brought by a distribution electric cooperative against a generation-and-transmission cooperative.
• Renewable Energy Aggregators, 177 FERC ¶ 61,040 (2021); Letter Order, Arizona Sacaton Pumped Hydro Storage Project, P-14869 (Mar. 4, 2020): Represented mining company and pumped-storage developers in proceedings before FERC.
• N. States Power Co., 168 FERC ¶ 62,028 (2019): Successfully applied to FERC for approval for an investor-owned utility to acquire several wind-energy facilities.
• Represented clients in rate proceedings before state utility commissions.
• Assisted client in filing for approval of its smart-meter technology.
• Assisted an investor-owned utility in the purchase of an 80 megawatt, $143-million wind farm.

Land Use

• Successfully overturned adverse decision denying approval of surface parking lot in central business district.
• Secured denial of neighborhood appeal and petition for environmental review for a mixed-used development.
• Represented a manufacturer in preventing adverse decisions in connection with a municipality's adoption of its comprehensive plan and obtaining approval for a street vacation.
• Represented homeowner in successfully appealing denial of variance for setback requirements. 
• Obtained rezoning and conditional use permit for education and arts center in exurban community. 
  
• Successfully applied for conditional use permit for charter school in outlying community. 
  
• Obtained planned development permit for developer of health care company in Twin Cities suburb. 
• Completed land use due diligence for an investment company acquiring a hotel in an urban core.
• Conducted land use due diligence for a real estate company seeking to invest in a mixed-use development.

Natural Resources Law

• Advocated for mining company seeking to reverse adverse mineral leasing decision by the Department of the Interior.
• Conducted due diligence for natural resource projects in the Midwest, West, and Alaska.
• Represented mining company in disputing federal government’s withdrawal of minerals on national forest system lands.
• Advocated on behalf of copper-nickel company in receiving government approval for a 211-mile right-of-way to the company’s mineral holdings and in mine permitting.