Mary Beth also chairs the firm’s Energy Practice Group which assists with the siting and permitting of new generating facilities and upgrades to such facilities, assists asset owners with energy regulatory and environmental compliance matters for existing facilities, conducts regulatory due diligence with respect to asset acquisitions and counsels clients on zoning matters including petitions for zoning exemptions from the Department of Public Utilities. She is currently involved in the siting of a municipal wind project in southeastern Massachusetts, a commercial wind facility on the North Shore, and a micro-wind turbine project just north of Boston. She has also advised developers of photovoltaic projects in several states regarding regulatory, siting and interconnection matters.

Mary Beth also handles energy-related transactions such as power purchase and power sales agreements, renewable energy credit sales agreements, water purchase agreements, host community agreements for renewable and conventional generating facilities. She also advises renewable and conventional generation owners regarding property valuation matters including Payments-In-Lieu of Taxes Agreements.

Before joining Foley Hoag in 1989, Mary Beth had 11 years of experience with state energy regulation in Massachusetts. She served for six years as Assistant Secretary at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, where she directed the development of state policy with respect to the electric, gas and oil industries. Mary Beth was also a technical staff member of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, where she reviewed siting applications for transmission lines, an LNG storage facility, gas-fired generation unit and twin nuclear units, and co-authored LNG siting regulations.