EMAIL:
PHONE: 404-812-0156
Office Address:
1200 Peachtree Street, N.E
Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30309
Emory University
(J.D., 2001)
Northwestern University
(B.A., 1997)
Georgia
Chambers USA
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Environmental Law and Environmental Litigation (2016–Present)
Jonathan Wells is an environmental regulatory and energy lawyer with extensive litigation and transactional expertise. For almost twenty-five years, he has sought to resolve clients’ complex environmental issues through zealous representation and creative approaches. Clients include renewable energy providers and electric utilities, manufacturers, real estate developers, landfill owners, and local governments.
In the energy space, Jonathan has successfully obtained permitting and local zoning approvals for more than one gigawatt of solar energy projects in Georgia over the last ten years. He has also represented electrical utilities in the acquisition of existing generating assets as well as financing for the construction of the first new nuclear units in the United States in over thirty years.
In the redevelopment space, Jonathan is the lead environmental lawyer for the $1 billion redevelopment of Atlanta’s underutilized “Gulch” area into Centennial Yards. He also routinely counsels mixed-use real estate developers in utilizing Brownfields statutes throughout the Southeast.
His regulatory and litigation experience also includes the defense of clients in federal and state civil and criminal enforcement proceedings brought by EPA and state environmental agencies, compliance counseling, hazardous site cleanups, and toxic tort litigation. Jonathan’s experience spans virtually every federal environmental statute – from RCRA, CERCLA, and the Clean Water Act, to the Clean Air Act and analogous state regulatory schemes.
Jonathan earned his bachelor of arts from Northwestern University in 1997 before graduating with his J.D. from Emory University in 2001. Prior to entering private practice, Jonathan clerked for the Hon. Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He has served as the Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association and on the board of Rivers Alive, Georgia’s annual statewide water cleanup initiative.
Both Chambers USA and Best Lawyers in America® have recognized Jonathan for excellence in the area of environmental law and litigation since 2016.
Counsel to NextEra Energy Resources, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun, in the permitting and land use approvals for more than a dozen new solar projects in Georgia over the last ten years generating over one gigawatt of electricity.
Counsel to CIM, a real estate developer and infrastructure owner, on Brownfields issues in connection with its $1 billion Centennial Yards redevelopment in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
Counsel to the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia in obtaining $1.8 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy in support of the construction of the first new nuclear units in thirty years at Plant Vogtle.
Represented a textile finishing company in defense of a class action, a citizen suit by the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, and state and federal investigations concerning the largest reported fish kill in Georgia’s history. Providing continued counsel on environmental issues related to the decommissioning of the facility and wastewater treatment plant at issue.
Counsel to one of the nation’s largest power supply cooperatives on issues ranging from Clean Air Act compliance, permitting in connection with acquisitions of generating assets, and environmental advice on financing from the Rural Utilities Service.
Counsel to one of the country’s largest comprehensive solid waste and environmental services companies on issues ranging from compliance counseling, renewable natural gas permitting, landfill siting and expansions, and potential state legislation and regulations.
Common counsel to three different groups of potentially responsible parties in connection with Superfund and Hazardous Site Inventory cleanups being overseen by U.S. EPA and state environmental agencies.