Michael Sherman

Background

About Michael Sherman

My experience includes buying, selling, leasing and permitting large scale development projects - mining, wind, solar, carbon capture and sequestration, and oil and gas - in California and the Pacific Northwest. What ties all of those industries together? For starters, lots of real estate and title issues. I’ve come across what seems like every variation of drafting and title issue in wind leases on over acres, 70-plus title opinions on California oil and gas and unpatented mining claims, approximately acres in conservation easements, and easement agreements for California carbon capture and sequestration projects. Of course, no one has seen everything when it comes to drafting an agreement or reviewing title but I look forward to resolving that new sticky issue that pops up with each project. From an environmental permitting and compliance perspective, these industries are also highly regulated by federal, state and local governments. It can be hard to navigate the alphabet soup of environmental laws that often apply - CEQA, NEPA, SMARA, ESA, CESA, CWA, FLPMA just to name a few. I’ve guided clients through this mess of environmental laws on over sixty California mine sites, solar projects in the Central Valley and California desert, and many other projects in between. My view on permitting and compliance is straightforward: regulation is inevitable, so let’s find a way through the red tape with as little pain as possible and hopefully save some time and money too. I also enjoy speaking and writing about mineral title, California endangered species, permitting and many other topics. Check out the Publications section below for a selection of my presentations and writings.