Hawkins has served as procurement, negotiation and financing counsel to local and State governments on over 50 waste-to-energy projects in 15 states and territories.

All of these projects have been delivered on a design-build-operate-maintain or design-build-finance-operate-maintain (P3) basis. Risk allocation, performance guarantees and security mechanisms developed by Hawkins have become standard in the industry. Examples of concepts pioneered by Hawkins include mechanisms to adjust throughput and electricity production guarantees based upon the measured higher heating value of the waste and the inclusion of enhanced environmental guarantees that protect our governmental client in the event of the imposition of more stringent environmental regulations, including air emissions standards.

Our experience extends not only to greenfield projects, but to contract extensions and end of term procurements as well, and we have worked on a wide variety of mass-burn, refuse derived fuel, gasification, plasma and anaerobic digestion projects.  We strive to comprehensively and clearly describe the parties’ rights and responsibilities so that disputes are minimized and our client’s public purpose objectives are met.

The following is a representative list of the firm’s engagements as owner’s lead counsel for project procurements in the waste-to-energy sector:

  • Montgomery County, MD (2000 TPD)
  • Onondaga County, NY (1500 TPD)
  • LaCrosse County, WI (500 TPD)
  • Huntington, NY (750 TPD)
  • Westchester County, NY (2000 TPD)
  • Los Angeles, CA (2000 TPD, deferred)
  • New York City, NY (3000 TPD, deferred)

The following is a representative list of the firm’s engagements as bond counsel or underwriters’ counsel in the waste-to-energy sector:

  • Babylon, NY
  • Bridgeport, CT
  • Dutchess County, NY
  • Essex County, NJ
  • Hempstead, NY
  • Honolulu, HI
  • Huntington, NY
  • Islip, NY
  • Pittsfield, MA
  • Stanislaus, CA
  • Union County, NJ
  • Westchester County, NY