Alia Miles

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Alia has over ten years’ experience advising and representing business organizations and public entities on regulatory matters. Alia’s regulatory practice at McDowell Rackner & Gibson involves representing electric and gas utilities involved in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of power in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The primary focus of her practice is energy facility permitting and compliance. She has considerable experience with the many state and federal environmental laws with which proposed energy facilities must comply in order to obtain necessary permits, authorizations, and right-of-ways, including the National Environmental Policy Act. Alia advises clients on environmental or other regulatory matters before numerous state and federal agencies, including the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE), the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC), Oregon Department of State Lands (ODSL), the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Forest Service (USFS), the United Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and both state and tribal Historic Preservation Officers. Alia has represented clients in proceedings before the state public utility commissions in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, as well as the Oregon Environmental Facilities Siting Council (EFSC).

Legal Experience

Prior to joining McDowell Rackner & Gibson, Alia was Of Counsel with the Portland law firm of Ater Wynne LLP. At Ater Wynne, Alia’s regulatory practice included both energy and telecommunications law clients, including investor-owned and publicly-owned utilities as well as energy development entities. Alia also has significant experience in both environmental law and federal Indian law, and she served as a Visiting Professor of Legal Writing at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College for the 2007-2008 academic year. After law school, Alia clerked for the Honorable Rick T. Haselton at the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Representative Work

• Advising investor-owned utility on all aspects of permitting a proposed 500 kV transmission line, with an emphasis on obtaining the necessary right-of-ways in compliance with NEPA and other federal laws and submitting a successful Application for a Site Certificate to the Oregon EFSC (ongoing).
• Assisting Jefferson County PUD with acquisition of assets from Puget Sound Energy and request for electric power from Bonneville Power Authority.
• Representing Idaho Power Company and NW Natural in regulatory filings before the Oregon Public Utility Commission.
• Representing Golden Valley Electric Association, Inc. on tariff and other regulatory filings before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
• Advising the Columbia River People’s Utility District on general regulatory compliance issues.
• Advised Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians on various environmental aspects of Creekside Development project, including governmental agreements relating to water diversion and treatment.
• Advised high tech companies Planar and FLIR Systems on various environmental compliance issues, including compliance with state and EU electronic waste laws.

Professional Activities

• Member of Oregon Bar.
• Member of Oregon Women Lawyers.
• Member of the Oregon State Bar Energy, Telecom & Utility Law Section, Indian Law Section, and Environmental and Natural Resource Section.

Education

Alia graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1992, where she received her BA in History cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She received her JD and Environmental Certificate from Lewis and Clark Law School in 1998. At Lewis and Clark, Alia served as Articles Editor of Environmental Law and was honored as a member of the Cornelius Honor Society, a recipient of the Bernard O’Rourke Award for Outstanding Paper on Natural Resources Topic, and a Dean’s Fellowship from 1995 to 1998.

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