Michael Dreibelbis
Counsel
Los Angeles
michael.dreibelbis@lw.com
+1.213.891.8491
PRACTICES
- Climate Change
- Energy Regulatory & Markets
- Environment, Land & Resources
- Project Development & Finance
INDUSTRIES
- Energy & Infrastructure
- Energy Transition
EDUCATION
- JD, Columbia University School of Law, 2011
- BA, Princeton University, 2007
cum laude
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
- English
- German
PROFILE
Michael Dreibelbis advises energy companies, financial institutions, private equity firms, and project developers on a variety of transactional and regulatory matters.
Michael advises clients on environmental commodities and low-carbon project development, including carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), tech-based carbon removal, nature-based carbon removal, carbon avoidance and reduction, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure development.
In the environmental commodities space, Michael advises on voluntary carbon markets as well as compliance markets such as the California Cap-and-Trade Program, Renewable Fuel Standard, the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), and state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).
Michael also advises clients within regulatory proceedings, programs, and enforcement matters involving the California Air Resources Board’s climate change programs.
EXPERIENCE
Michael's experience includes advising:
- 1PointFive on a transaction with Microsoft for the offtake of carbon removal credits enabled by 1PointFive’s STRATOS Direct Air Capture facility
- Ponterra on a 30-year stream agreement with Microsoft, Rubicon Carbon, and Carbon Streaming for the anticipated delivery of approximately 3 million tons of carbon removal credits
- Chevron USA, in developing and implementing a carbon credit procurement program
- Major corporate purchaser of IRA tax credits and carbon credits from a portfolio of carbon removal projects
- Rubicon Carbon and Freepoint Commodities on its agreement with Imperative Global in connection to the development, financing, and marketing of Imperative’s high-quality carbon projects
- Flow Carbon on the tokenization of carbon offset credits in the voluntary offset market
- Saudi Aramco on the development of a 9 million MTCO2/annum CCS project in Saudi Arabia
- Occidental Petroleum on multiple CCS transactions
- A private equity-backed midstream infrastructure company in connection with the project development and financing of a carbon capture project in the Midwest
- Vault 44.01 on CO2 transportation and sequestration services agreements to service ethanol plants in the Midwest
- Brookfield on the formation of its Carbon Terravault joint venture with California Resource Corporation, creating a carbon management partnership focused on carbon capture and sequestration development
- The Newhall Land and Farming Company, a subsidiary of Five Point Holdings, LLC, in an unprecedented project to reduce or mitigate to zero all greenhouse gas emissions for a large planned community in California, including the development of a dairy methane biogas-to-energy project and other emissions reduction projects
- Fuel suppliers in the development, certification, and accreditation of fuel supply pathways to bring low-carbon fuel to market
- Numerous oil & gas companies and other regulated entities, in advocating a number of market design changes to the California cap-and-trade program and negotiating US and international carbon offset transactions
- Multiple companies on various enforcement actions by the California Air Resources Board, including with respect to allowance auction participation, carbon emissions reporting, carbon offset registration and invalidation, and others
- SoCalGas in connection with the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility methane leak and renewable natural gas