Kristy Dahl Rogers

Kristy is a 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 renewable energy projects and associated trial and appellate litigation.

Kristy regularly represents developers, utilities, transmission companies, and other companies in state and local regulatory and permitting proceedings and associated litigation, including actions seeking judicial review of agency decisions, actions challenging local government decisions, appeals, and emergency motion practice seeking or resisting the issuance of temporary restraining orders and injunctions. Kristy is experienced at litigating a wide array of issues that often arise in land use and permitting disputes, including statutory and regulatory compliance, vested rights, open records and open meetings requirements, procedural due process, preemption, eminent domain, takings, nuisance, trespass, and negligence. In addition, she assists clients with challenging or defending the enactment or application of local ordinances.

Kristy’s experience representing clients in permitting disputes informs her extensive renewable energy permitting practice. She routinely assists clients with obtaining and defending necessary state and local permits to site, construct, operate, or repower renewable projects and associated battery energy storage systems, transmission lines, and substations. Kristy assists clients during all stages of project development and is adept at communicating with local government officials, including during the development of local zoning and home rule ordinances. Leveraging her familiarity with industry best practices and siting constraints, she excels at collaborating with development teams to pragmatically navigate the complexities of evolving state and local regulatory landscapes.

Kristy is located in the Des Moines office and frequently appears before state and federal district courts, the Iowa Supreme Court and Iowa Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Iowa Utilities Commission, 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 she developed and documented procedures and processes to help the utility 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, 2020-2025
• Great Plains Super Lawyers Rising Star, Energy & Resources, 2023-2024
• 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