Steven H. Brose

Partner

1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20036
TEL: 202.429.6250
FAX: 202.429.3902

Steve Brose is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is the head of the Regulatory & Industry Affairs Department. Mr. Brose has more than 30 years of experience in a broad range of administrative, judicial, and transactional matters, principally involving the oil and natural gas pipeline industries.

Oil Pipeline Regulation
Mr. Brose has served as lead counsel for the regulated company in a number of the most complex oil pipeline matters to come before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). These have included recent cases involving the rates and practices of Colonial Pipeline Company, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, Mid-America Pipeline Company, Amberjack Pipeline Company, Alpine Transportation Company, Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership, Koch Pipeline Company, L.P., and SFPP, as well as earlier matters for ARCO Pipe Line Company, Kuparuk Transportation Company and others. Several of these cases resulted in innovative, long-term settlements.

Mr. Brose has also defended the owners of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and its feeder lines in a range of regulatory proceedings before the FERC and the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. His relationship with TAPS dates back to the pipeline's original rate proceeding. That case culminated in a unique, 25-year rate settlement with the state of Alaska in which Mr. Brose played a primary role. Since then, he has defended the TAPS owners in challenges to the cost of repairing corrosion on the pipeline, the cost of settling the Exxon Valdez oil spill case, and the cost of investigating and repairing thousands of electrical code violations on TAPS facilities, as well as numerous other contested matters.

As part of Mr. Brose's oil pipeline practice, he counsels a great number of companies with respect to their rates, regulated practices, and business opportunities. This has included participation in several successful transactions involving the sale or lease of pipeline assets. He has also served as an expert witness on oil pipeline regulation in private civil litigation.
Mr. Brose's experience includes a variety of pipeline safety matters at the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety, in private litigation, and in counseling pipeline clients.

Mr. Brose has served numerous terms as Chair of the Oil Pipeline Committees of both the American Bar Association Section on Public Utility, Communications, and Transportation Law, and of the Federal Energy Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker to bar associations and industry groups on matters involving various aspects of pipeline regulation.

Natural Gas Regulation
Mr. Brose's experience in natural gas regulatory matters spans his entire career. He has represented natural gas producers and processors in a variety of administrative and judicial matters involving royalty issues, abandonments, pipeline certificates, connections, and gas quality standards. Mr. Brose was heavily involved in the proposed conversion of a major facility in the Southwest to interstate gas pipeline service. This project entailed, among other things, preparation of a detailed certificate application to the FERC, preparation of the initial tariff and rate structure for the pipeline, and coordination of the environmental and regulatory permitting process.

Energy Matters in the Former Soviet Union and South America
In recent years, Mr. Brose has served on expert task forces for the World Bank and the State Department's Agency for International Development involving energy projects in the Former Soviet Union. The goal of the World Bank project was to increase access to the immense Russian oil pipeline network; the AID task force advised and assisted the government of the Republic of Georgia regarding a proposed oil pipeline project from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.

Most recently, Mr. Brose was the lead advisor to the Ecuador Ministry of Energy and Mines in its successful negotiations with Western developers of the new Ecuador oil pipeline project.

Noteworthy

Listed in Best Lawyers of America 2008 for Energy and Natural Resources Law
Received a #1 Ranking in Chambers Global 2008, The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, US Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory & Litigation)
Listed in Who's Who Legal for Oil & Gas in 2008
Received a #1 Ranking in Chambers USA 2007, America’s Leading Business Lawyers; Energy: Oil & Gas (District of Columbia)
Listed in Washington, DC, Super Lawyers 2007 for Energy & Natural Resources

Success Stories

FERC Allows Pipeline Client $1B Expansion

News

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association: Section on Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law; Vice Chair, (and Former Chair) Oil Pipelines Committee; Former Member of Section Council
Federal Energy Bar Association: Former Chair, Oil Pipelines Committee; Former Member of Executive Committee
Board of Trustees, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law