Ariel Stavitsky

Ariel Stavitsky focuses on environmental and natural resource-related litigation, complex permitting, and regulatory counseling. She advises and advocates for clients across multiple industries, including energy generation, natural resource production, mining, and manufacturing.

After graduating first in her law school class, Ariel served as judicial law clerk to the Honorable John V. Acosta of the U.S. District Court, District of Oregon. As a law student, she worked for the Oregon Department of Justice, General Counsel Division, Natural Resources Section, and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before her legal career, Ariel worked in communications and as an environmental consultant specializing in due diligence, risk assessment, and compliance. She now draws on that practical experience to help clients proactively solve complex environmental issues.

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Education

University of Oregon School of Law, J.D. 2017; Order of the Coif; Bowerman Fellow, Energy Law and Policy Project, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, 2015-2017

Tulane University, B.A., Environmental Studies, Minor in Studio Art - Glass, 2011, summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa

Admissions

Oregon

Washington

United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

Tlingit & Haida Tribal Court Bar

Languages

Utility-Scale Energy Facility Permitting and Permit Defense

Ariel helps energy facility developers obtain and defend site certificates and other project approvals, from initial scoping to final permit  to administrative and judicial appeals. Ariel has significant experience permitting wind, solar, and battery storage (BESS) facilities before the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) and Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) and local land use jurisdictions in Oregon and Washington. She offers proactive and pragmatic approaches to managing complex permitting timelines and engagement  with regulators, consultants, and other project stakeholders throughout permitting and appeal processes.

Among other regulatory frameworks, she assists clients in navigating issues involving Oregon’s Statewide Planning Goals (including Goals 3 and 4 protecting farm and forest land), Washington’s Growth Management Act, the  Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review, and state wildlife, visual, and other resource protections.

Representative matters include:

• Obtained Oregon EFSC site certificate for state’s largest solar and BESS facility, including first-of-its-kind mitigation proposal to address impacts to agricultural economy.
• Obtained Washington EFSEC site certificate for 1,000+ MW hybrid (wind, solar, BESS) energy facility despite local project opposition, assisting in all aspects of permitting, from SEPA review to adjudication hearings.   
• Successfully defended Oregon EFSC site certificate for 600 MW hybrid (wind, solar, BESS) project in appeal before Oregon Supreme Court.
• Obtained precedential Oregon Statewide Planning Goal 4 exception and conditional use permit for development of hybrid solar and BESS project on forestlands.
• Obtained Washington EFSEC site certificate for solar project utilizing Council’s expedited application and permitting process.
• Currently representing developers in numerous utility-scale, hybrid renewable energy projects in Oregon and Washington.  

Environmental and Natural Resource Litigation

Ariel also represents a diverse client base in environmental, natural resource, and energy subject matter in all stages of administrative, state, and federal litigation.

Representative matters include:

• Represented association of local governments seeking to uphold land management requirements under the Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant Lands Act of 1937 before D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.
• Successfully recovered petroleum remediation costs on behalf of property owner in case involving liability issue of first impression under Oregon cleanup law.
• Successfully appealed Occupational Safety and Health Administration citation against tribal health following an administrative trial.
• Prevailed in pro bono representation of asylum seekers in federal immigration proceedings and of Native American tribal members in case involving artifact repatriation case before the Alaska Supreme Court.

State and Federal Regulatory Counseling, Due Diligence, and Enforcement Defense

Ariel’s practice also includes regulatory compliance counseling, risk assessment, and enforcement defense under various federal environmental laws including the Clean Water Act (CWA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and analogous state laws.

Insights & Presentations

• Presenter, “Protecting Agriculture in Oregon’s Clean Energy Transition,” 28^th Annual Oregon Land Use Law Seminar, December 5, 2024

• Author, “Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council Finalizes Rulemaking to Clarify Contested Case Procedures for Energy Projects,” Stoel Rives Renewable + Law Blog, October 30, 2024
• Co-author, “New Legislation Authorizes Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council to Certify Standalone Battery Energy Storage Systems but Stops Short of Including Clear Land Use Approval Pathway,” Stoel Rives Renewable + Law Blog, April 12, 2024
• Author, “Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council Proposes Rulemaking to Clarify Contested Case Procedures for Energy Projects,” Stoel Rives Renewable + Law Blog, March 5, 2024
• Speaker, “Preserving Attorney-Client Privilege: Best Practices for Third-Party Consultants,” presentation to Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc., January 2024
• Speaker, “Outreach, Equity, and Engagement in Stormwater Planning,” Managing Stormwater in Oregon, Northwest Environmental Business Council (NEBC), June 14, 2023
• Speaker, “Implementing Environmental Justice: Considerations and Strategies,” Business & The Environment CONFERENCE · EXPO, NEBC, December 7, 2022
• Moderator, “Environmental Justice: How are Agencies Responding?” Business & The Environment CONFERENCE · EXPO, NEBC, December 7, 2022
• “MSHA Announces New Initiative to Enforce Silica Dust Standards,” Mineral Law Blog, Stoel Rives LLP, June 13, 2022
• Author, “Oregon Joins California in Passing Environmental Justice (EJ) Legislation to Create EJ Mapping Tool,” Stoel Rives Legal Update, April 5, 2022
• Moderator, “Environmental Justice: Healthy Businesses and Healthy Communities,” Business & The Environment CONFERENCE · EXPO, NEBC, December 1, 2021
• Co-author, “Charting the Course to Implement Environmental Justice Through Corporate Sustainability,” Corporate Counsel, October 18, 2021
• Co-author, “Uncharted Waters: Environmental Justice in Federal and State Regulation,” Corporate Counsel, August 16, 2021
• Co-author, “The Rising Tide of Environmental Justice and Preparing for the Next Wave,” Corporate Counsel, June 23, 2021
• Moderator, “Oregon’s Cap and Reduce Program: what’s on the GHG Horizon?,” Business & The Environment CONFERENCE · EXPO, NEBC, December 8, 2020
• Presenter, “Preparing for PFAS Regulations in the Pacific NW,” Women in Environment, Summer Tech Talk, August 27, 2020
• “New Executive Order Directs Agencies to Employ Emergency Authority to Expedite Infrastructure and Other Civil Projects,” Stoel Rives Legal Update, June 8, 2020
• Presenter and co-author, “Bald and Golden Eagle Act Prohibitions and Permits,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation: Endangered Species and Other Wildlife, Denver, CO, November 2019
• “MSHA Announces Reinstatement of 2017 Obama-Era Rule on Workforce Examinations,” Mineral Law Blog, Stoel Rives LLP, October 3, 2019
• “SCOTUS Rejects National Park Service’s Attempt to Regulate River in Alaskan Preserve,” Oregon Real Estate and Land Use Digest, Oregon State Bar, May 2019
• “Lessons and Strategies from Oregon’s Would-be Voluntary Renewable Energy Tariff,” Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, University of Oregon School of Law, August 2017
• “When Less is More: An Energy Efficiency Set-Aside as a Leakage Mitigation Strategy Under the Clean Power Plan,” Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, University of Oregon School of Law, August 2016

• Included in Best Lawyers^®: Ones to Watch in America (Litigation—Environmental), 2022–present
• Selected as an “Emerging Leader” by Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative, 2021–2022
• Stoel Rives LLP Andrew Guy Pro Bono Award, Recipient, 2020, 2023
• Laird Kirkpatrick Book Prize Recipient, Top Student in Evidence, 2015
• Excellence in Written Advocacy Award Recipient, Top Appellate Brief, 2015

Professional

•  Oregon State Bar, Energy Telecom, and Utility Law Section, Executive Committee, 2023-2025 Campaign for Equal Justice, Associates Committee 2020-2023
• University of Oregon School of Law, Order of the Coif, Class of 2017
• University of Oregon School of Law, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, Energy Law and Policy Project, Bowerman Fellow, 2015–2017
• Oregon Law Review, Executive Editor, 2016–2017; Staff Editor, 2015–2016