Mary Beth Gentleman
Mary Beth Gentleman combines a decade of regulatory experience and nearly 20 years of practice at Foley Hoag to provide competitive power suppliers, energy service companies, and generating companies with strategic regulatory and market advice. She serves as Chair of Foley Hoag’s Energy & Regulated Industries Practice Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Energy Technology and Renewables Practice Group, and her energy law experience has been recognized by her inclusion in both The Best Lawyers in America and Massachusetts SuperLawyers.
Mary Beth has a particular focus on matters pertaining to electric industry restructuring. She has helped clients negotiate restructuring settlement agreements with the major electric companies in New England, and also has adjudicated contested restructuring plans. She also advises wholesale generators in negotiating PPA restructurings and buy-out agreements, and in obtaining public utility commission approval.
Siting, permitting and asset purchases involving power plants are other primary areas of Mary Beth’s energy practice. She serves as lead counsel for major power plant siting projects before the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, and also handles permitting and siting issues that involve generating units, oil pipelines, natural gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and water lines to POTWs. Among the approvals that she obtained was the first Greenhouse Gas mitigation plan based on methane recovery. In addition, Mary Beth performs energy regulatory due diligence reviews for asset acquisitions involving fossil, hydro and methane-recovery facilities.
In addition to her energy regulatory practice, Mary Beth counsels software companies on establishing commercial relationships with energy distribution companies, generators, and regulatory agencies. She also advises energy and telecommunication companies on property tax valuation matters and represents them before the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board.
Before joining Foley Hoag in 1989, Mary Beth had 11 years of experience with state energy regulation in Massachusetts. She served for six years as Assistant Secretary at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, where she directed the development of state policy with respect to the electric, gas and oil industries and served as an energy and environmental policy advisor to Lt. Governor Thomas P. O’Neill, III. Mary Beth was also a technical staff member of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, where she reviewed siting applications for transmission lines, LNG storage facility, gas-fired generation unit and twin nuclear units, and co-authored LNG siting regulations.
Bars and Court Admissions
professional / civic involvement
- Conservation Services Group, Member, Board of Directors
- Northeast Energy and Commerce Association, Vice President for Policy
- Lex Mundi, Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group
- MassDEP Commissioner’s Advisory Committee
- American Bar Association
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- Boston Bar Association
- Energy Bar Association
SPEECHES AND CONFERENCES
- Co-chair, “Energy in the Northeast,” Law Seminars International Conference, Boston, MA (October 20-21, 2005 and October 16-17, 2006)
- Panelist, “Ancillary Considerations in Power Procurement Contracting,” Latest Rules and Trends in Effective Procurement and Contracting, Insight Information Conference (2005)
- Panelist, “Renewable Energy: Where Are We? Where Are We Headed?” The Environmental Law Section of the Boston Bar Association (2003)
- Moderator, “Power Markets: Where Are We Heading? (The Promise of Dereg, ISO/RTO Issues, Lessons from ENRON, Demand-Side Initiatives),” Power Markets in ’02: Moving On, Northeast Energy and Commerce Association and the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (2002)
- Panelist, “Retail Power Purchasing 101,” New England Legal Foundation and Boston Bar Association, Corporate Counsel Committee (2001)
- Moderator, “New Solutions for Customers’ New Problems,” Capturing the New Customer Markets Created by Energy Deregulation, Northeast Energy and Commerce Association (2001)
- Panelist, “Too Much Clutch, Not Enough Gas,” When Can Competition Work?, Joint Conference of the Massachusetts Electricity Restructuring Roundtable and XENERGY’s Executive Forum (2001)
- Moderator, “Generation Fuel Diversity,” Deregulation 2001: Crisis or Correction? Northeast Energy and Commerce Association and the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (2001)
- Co-Moderator, “Permitting Competition: Wires, Water and Gas,” The Future is Now, Northeast Energy and Commerce Association and the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (2000)
- Speaker, “Generation in the Deregulated Marketplace: Factors Affecting Price,” Northeast Power Markets: The New Realities, 10th Annual Northeast Power Conference, Northeast Power Report and Electric Utility Week (2000)
- Co-Moderator, “Regulating Generators: Old Dogs, New Tricks?” Competition and Consolidation in the Northeast Energy Markets, Northeast Energy and Commerce Association and the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (1999)
- Speaker, “Legal Considerations in Designing a Retail Marketing Plan in a Reregulated Market,” The Power of Marketing & Sales: How Utilities Boost Their Market Share, Public Utilities Reports, Inc. and Bishoff Solomon Communications (1998)
- Panelist, “Purchasing Electricity in a Deregulated Market: Contracting Considerations,” Electrical Industry Restructuring in Massachusetts, MCLE (1998)
- Speaker, “Negotiating the Contract,” The Nuts and Bolts of Buying Energy in a Deregulated Market, Chain Store Age Conference, Chicago, IL (1997)
- Panelist, “Measuring and Mitigating Stranded Costs,” Buying and Selling Electricity in the Northeast, Law Seminars International (1997)
- Speaker, “Legal Considerations in Purchasing Electricity,” Program on Utility Deregulation, Smaller Business Association of New England (1996)
- Speaker, “Choosing Among Electricity Suppliers: Legal Issues for Consumers,” Electric Utility Deregulation, Build Boston (1996)
- Speaker, “Renewables: Utility Restructuring and Regional Implications,” Building Energy Conference, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (1996)
- Panelist, “Restructuring in the Northeast,” NARUC/DOE Conference on Competition and the Public Interest: Addressing Strandable Benefits and Strandable Costs in a Restructured Electric Industry, Gatlinburg, Tennessee (1995)
- Speaker, “Negotiation to Consensus: The Electric Restructuring Roundtable Experience in Massachusetts,” Boston Bar Association, Energy Law Committee (1995)
- Panelist, “Electric Industry Restructuring: Leaner and Greener?” Electric Power Industry in New England--Evolution or Revolution? New England Cogeneration Association (1995)
- Panelist, “Indoor Air Pollution,” Boston Bar Foundation Continuing Legal Education (1994)
- Speaker, “DSM on the Defensive,” Power Planning in an Adversarial Age, Northeast Power Report and Independent Power Report (1993)
- Chairperson, “The Emerging Market for Nitrogen Oxide Offsets,” Utility Environment Report and Electric Utility Week, Washington, D.C. (1993)
- Panelist, “Integration of Externalities in Resource Procurement Processes in Massachusetts and New York,” NARUC Least-Cost Utility Planning Conference, Charleston, SC (1989)
publications
- Electric Industry Restructuring: Getting It Right with New Technologies, MIT ENTERPRISE FORUM REPORTER (April 2002)
- Legal Considerations for Retail Marketers in a Reregulated Market, ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING IN MASSACHUSETTS - MCLE 01.06 (1998)
- Electric Industry Restructuring: Customer Choice Nears, SBANE ENTERPRISE (February/March 1997)
- Energy Supply of Future Is a Hard One to Predict, BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, (December 1993)
- Demand-side Management Benefits All, BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, (April/May 1993)
- Utility Regulators Must Fine-Tune Incentives, BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL (November 1991)