Tina Grovier Quoted on Stoel Rives' New Arctic Law Practice, Challenges to Businesses in the Arctic

Anchorage office managing partner Tina Grovier was quoted in Inside Counsel Magazine and Law360 in articles titled ” Grovier heads Stoel Rives’ new Arctic law business group” and “US Attempting Arctic Climate And Energy Balancing Act.” The articles discuss the firm’s decision to form an Arctic law practice group and some of the challenges that businesses looking to do business in the Arctic region can expect to encounter.

Grovier noted that with the United States recently assuming the chairmanship of the intergovernmental Arctic Council with a specific goal of improving economic conditions, and with growing business and government interest in Arctic economic development, the time was ripe for the formation of the new practice group. The Arctic Law business group will address the challenges caused by the intersection of natural resource matters, environmental matters, public land laws and other concerns.

Grovier also pointed out that unlike most states where federal law is similar to state law from state to state, Alaska presents a special challenge in that certain laws only apply within the state. For example, attorneys need to understand issues related to polar bears and to Alaska Native corporation lands, whose interests must be considered when doing business in the region. “There are different statutes that created them,” Grovier said. “There is the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and there’s the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. So any project involving those kinds of lands would have different rules than the lands in the lower 48.”

Read “Grovier heads Stoel Rives’ new Arctic law business group,” published May 11, 2015, and “US Attempting Arctic Climate And Energy Balancing Act,” published May 8, 2015. (Subscription required.)