Kristy Dahl Rogers

Kristy is a skilled litigator and regulatory attorney who represents clients before state and federal courts, state agencies and local government boards. She dedicates a significant portion of her practice to permitting large energy infrastructure projects and associated trial and appellate litigation.

In her energy permitting and litigation practice, Kristy represents utilities, independent power producers, developers, transmission companies, and other companies in state and local regulatory and permitting proceedings and associated litigation, including actions seeking judicial review of state agency decisions, actions challenging the legality of local government decisions, nuisance actions, appeals, and emergency motion practice seeking or resisting temporary restraining orders and injunctions. Kristy has litigated an array of issues in land use, regulatory, and permitting disputes, including vested rights, open records requirements, open meetings requirements, procedural due process, preemption, nuisance, eminent domain, takings, and procedural and substantive requirements associated with local ordinances, statutes, and administrative rules.

Kristy has extensive experience with renewable energy permitting and litigation. She routinely assists clients with obtaining and defending necessary state and local permits to site, develop, construct, operate, and maintain wind and solar projects and associated battery energy storage systems, transmission lines, and substations. Leveraging her familiarity with industry best practices, Kristy helps developers pragmatically navigate the complexities and challenges associated with evolving state and local regulatory landscapes. She regularly advises clients at all stages of project development and is adept at working with county boards and local government officials throughout the permitting process, including during the development of local zoning and home rule ordinances.

Kristy is located in the Des Moines office and regularly advocates on behalf of clients before the Iowa Utilities Board, state and federal district courts, the Iowa Supreme Court and Iowa Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and local boards of supervisors and boards of adjustment across her home state of Iowa. Before attending law school, Kristy worked for a local municipal utility, where her responsibilities including documenting and developing procedures, processes, and controls to ensure regulatory compliance, reduce costs, and manage risk.

• Secured the dismissal of a challenge to the enactment of a wind ordinance and the grant of a permit for a wind project by a county board of supervisors on behalf of the developer in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
• Secured the dismissal of a challenge to the enactment of a wind ordinance and the grant of a permit by a county board of supervisors in Iowa District Court on behalf of a developer and obtained monetary sanctions against opposing counsel for the developer and the county.
• Obtained a certificate of public convenience, use, and necessity from the Iowa Utilities Board and a conditional use permit from a county board of adjustment for a 100 MW solar project and 50 MW battery energy storage system.
• Obtained certificates of public convenience, use, and necessity from the Iowa Utilities Board for three solar projects totaling 749 MW in generating capacity and secured the elimination of associated construction deadlines for the developer.
• Obtained a transmission franchise authorizing a local utility to construct a transmission line segment from the Iowa Utilities Board.
• Represented the developer of a 225 MW wind project as part of the permitting team that obtained a conditional use permit for the project from the county board of adjustment.
• Represented a public utility as part of the litigation team that secured the dismissal of a challenge to the grant of a permit for a 340 MW wind project by a county board of adjustment in Iowa District Court and successfully defended that judgment on appeal before the Iowa Court of Appeals.
• Secured a nuisance judgement authorizing the rescue of hundreds of neglected exotic animals from a roadside zoo pro bono as part of a Fredrikson team collaborating with an animal rights organization and then served as lead counsel in obtaining a contempt conviction against the zoo’s owners for their interference with the rescue effort and successfully defending both judgments on appeal before the Iowa Court of Appeals and the Iowa Supreme Court.

Education

• Duke University School of Law, J.D., 2015, magna cum laude
• Washington University in St. Louis, A.B., 2001, with honors

Admissions

• Iowa, 2015
• Minnesota, 2018

Clerkships

• Law Clerk, Honorable Robert W. Pratt, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, 2016-2017
• Law Clerk, Honorable David S. Wiggins, Iowa Supreme Court, 2015-2016

• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, Energy Law, 2021-2024
• Great Plains Super Lawyers Rising Star, Energy & Resources, 2023
• North Star Lawyer, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2018, 2020-2021
• Order of the Coif

Professional Activities

• Public Relations Committee, Iowa State Bar Association, Member
• Polk County Women Attorneys, Member
• Iowa State Bar Association, Member
• Polk County Bar Association, Member
• Duke Law Journal, Articles Editor (Volume 64) and Staff Editor (Volume 63)
• Duke Law Moot Court Board, Member, 2013-2015