utilities

We have years of experience assisting landowners and landowner groups protect their rights when faced with large-scale utility projects.

We have also assisted with billing issues and ordinance issues with municipal utilities as well.

  • Ameren, ComEd, coops, and new entrants all wish to build high-voltage transmission lines. We have experience in stopping these projects in their tracks, rerouting them, or simply securing a better deal for landowners impacted by them.

  • Pipelines are not just for oil. They are also built for natural gas, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. We can assist you in opposing pipeline projects or rerouting them.

  • We can help landowners protect their rights, their land, and their legacy when faced with a developer wishing to install a wind or solar farm.

  • All utilities require land. Your land. The utilities and developers usually seek options and easements. We can help you through all steps of negotiation and memorialization of the process.

illustrative cases

These are some illustrative cases in which our attorneys have been involved in. Our efforts at the Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois Supreme Court, and appellate courts have resulted in total rejection of projects, major re-routing of projects, and minor re-routing of projects

Pending Cases

ameren central illinois grid transformation project

We are advocating for several re-routings of this project to address our client’s concerns.

ameren mt. vernon reliability project

We are advocating for several re-routings of this project to address our client’s concerns.

Past cases:

wolf carbon cO2 pipeline

We moved to dismiss Wolf Carbon’s application to build a CO2 pipeline through central Illinois based on its failure to provide a path in compliance with the Rules of Practice at the Commerce Commission. The putative utility, in response, withdrew its application. It has, as of January, 2025, not refiled.

You can find the Commerce Commission Docket Here.

discriminatory billing practices by municipal water utility

Here, we successfully advocated for the amendment of an municipal ordinance that punished a mobile home park for having multiple units despite a single water hookup to the park.

ameren spoon river project

Here, we successfully advocated for re-routing of this transmission line project in order to address the concerns of our clients.

You can find the Commerce Commission Docket Here.

comed grand prairie gateway project

Here, we successfully secured a re-routing of ComEd’s transmission line—succesfully addressing the concerns of our clients.

You can find the Commerce Commission Docket Here.

grain belt express-initial filings

Our attorneys were involved in the first “round” of the Grain Belt Express Clean Line project. We successfully secured the rejection of the project on the whole when the appellate court rejected the claims because Grain Gelt Express was not an actual public utility. There have been multiple rounds, since then. And as recently as 2024, efforts to resurrect the Grain Belt Express were rejected by appellate courts.

rock island clean line

In the Rock Island Clean Line case, we successfully caused the rejection of the project as a whole for our client, the Illinois Landowners Alliance. The matter was appealed all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, where the position we staked at the very beginning—having moved to dismiss on the grounds Rock Island Clean Line was not a public utility—won out the day. The Supreme Court’s opinion can be found Here.

Of course, past results are not guarantees of future success. But, we have the track record to give your situation the best chance of success.