Chris Colclasure

Chris helps his clients win permits to build natural resource development projects and keep them running. He frequently appears before state boards and commissions. He draws on his experience in private practice, Colorado's Air Pollution Control Division, and the federal government to obtain regulatory approval and develop cost-effective options for complying with environmental standards.

As a prominent air quality lawyer in Colorado and the west, Chris guided oil and gas clients through the development of the state's most significant air quality regulations. He finds creative strategies for industry to operate successfully in tough regulatory atmospheres, including voluntary measures to avoid regulations. He brought flexibility to Colorado's ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP), storage vessel emission control standards, emissions monitoring rules, and nearly every major Colorado air quality rulemaking from the adoption of a precedent-setting methane leak detection and repair (LDAR) program in 2014 through the ongoing greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction rules.

Chris served in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps, where he represented federal agencies in electric utility rate cases in Oklahoma and Alaska. He represented industry clients including a solar energy trade association in regulatory matters before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Chris knows first-hand how government agencies function, establish goals, interact with stakeholders, and measure success. He leverages this insider's perspective to find innovative solutions that accommodate the needs of his clients and their regulators.