Picture of Gordon D. Polozola

Gordon D. Polozola

Partner

Gordon Polozola is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. He rejoined the firm in 2020 and practices with the utilities regulation group. Prior to rejoining the firm, Gordon served as vice president and regional general counsel for a major independent power producer in the Southeast, and as executive vice president and general counsel to a private equity infrastructure firm located in Houston, Texas.

Gordon has over twenty-five years of expertise in electricity, natural gas pipelines and telecommunications, including tariffs and ratemaking, power & commodity sale/purchase agreements, EPC agreements, wholesale energy markets, NERC regulation and compliance audits, asset dispositions, O&M contract negotiations, ad valorem tax disputes and litigation, FERC wholesale transmission and interconnect agreements, and environmental regulations and compliance. He has proven skills in executing strategic business goals among diverse company business units through solutions-oriented approach, while mitigating legal and regulatory risks.

Gordon represents clients in the areas of electric power, energy, telecommunication, water and sewer, pipeline regulation, and trucking/transportation regulations. He represents local, regional, national and global utilities and utility consumers in contract negotiations and regulatory proceedings before the Louisiana Public Service Commission, Florida Public Service Commission, Tennessee Regulatory Authority, Mississippi Public Service Commission, Federal Communications Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Gordon has also represented local gas distribution companies, water and sewer companies and pipeline companies in rate application cases before the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

He has extensive knowledge of federal regulations and decisions relating to the development and operation of power projects and the obtaining of qualifying facility status and has earned the designation as a Certified Cogeneration Professional and Distributed Generation Certified Professional from the Association of Energy Engineers.

He is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell and recognized by Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America.

Representative Experience
  • Assisted in obtaining the first-ever Louisiana Public Service Commission order relating to the structuring, construction and operation of a $300 million-dollar joint qualifying cogeneration facility
  • Representation of a Louisiana university in federal regulatory compliance, and interconnection agreement and electric service agreement negotiations relating to the University’s qualifying cogeneration facilities
  • Led legal process in the acquisition of a natural gas pipeline system in the Delaware Basin
  • Advised pipeline joint venture in the development, construction and ownership of an intrastate natural gas pipeline in the Delaware Basin
  • Prepared and negotiated long and short-term power purchase & energy management agreements with electric cooperatives, municipal utilities and industrial facilities, and associated interconnection and transmission agreements with the incumbent transmission utility
  • Negotiated operating and maintenance, and supply chain agreements for electric power generation facilities in Louisiana
  • Defended and led negotiation team in Consent Decree Settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency in major NSR litigation
  • Advised worldwide, national and regional local and long-distance telecommunications carriers in certification proceedings, regulatory compliance, arbitrations and rulemaking before the Louisiana Public Service Commission and other state commissions, including issues relating to the deregulation of the telecommunications market
  • Representation of a consolidated government before the Louisiana Public Service Commission in connection with its Fiber-to-the-Home Project and entry into the telecommunications, internet and cable television market
  • Obtained Louisiana Public Service Commission prohibiting a telecommunications company from implementing a DSL/local exchange service tying agreement
  • Representation of water and gas companies in ratemaking proceedings before the Louisiana Public Service Commission
  • Representation of intrastate and interstate common carrier pipelines in regulatory compliance and ratemaking proceedings before the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and Louisiana Public Service Commission
  • Representation of intrastate and interstate common carriers in obtaining Louisiana Public Service Commission certificates to provide transportation services and in regulatory compliance filings with the Commission
Education

Gordon earned his B.S. from Louisiana State University in 1992. He earned his J.D. from the LSU Law Center in 1995, where he served as Senior Editor of the Louisiana Law Review, was a member of the Order of the Coif and a member of the LSU Law Center Hall of Fame.

Admissions
  • Admitted, Louisiana; Texas
Memberships
  • Louisiana State Bar Association; Texas Bar Association; Louisiana Broadband Advisory Council; Association of Energy Engineers; Generation Certified Professional 
Articles, Publications, and Presentations
  • Session 204 - Framework for Building a Renewable Energy Project, Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, October 23, 2023
  • Developments in Louisiana Climate & ESG Initiatives, ERM & Kean Miller’s Identification and Management of Greenhouse Gas Risks CLE Program, Houston, TX, November 8, 2022
  • Are You an Energy Lawyer? How Energy Touches Every Business, Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, October 24, 2022
  • Texas' Deep Freeze May Bring Wave of Energy Sector Bankruptcies, Texas Law Blog, March 5, 2021
  • Developments in Wholesale Energy, Renewable and the MidContinent Independent System Operator Markets, 2016 Arkansas Municipal Power Association Annual Meeting
  • Recent Developments in Telecommunications, Louisiana City Attorneys Association, 2008 Fall Conference and CLE
  • Telecommunications Update and Overview of Current Jurisprudence on Franchise Agreements, Louisiana City Attorneys Association, 2002 Fall Conference and CLE
  • Restructuring of the Electric Industry in Louisiana, Baton Rouge Bar Association, CLE by the Hour (1996)
  • The Battle of Removal — Is Delay the Ultimate Weapon: A Note on Martine v. National Tea Company, 54 Louisiana Law Review 1419 (1994)