Heather Corken offers clients in-depth environmental regulatory knowledge and extensive experience in energy-related environmental issues.  As a partner in the firm's Environmental Department, Heather helps energy, petrochemical and pipeline companies and private equity firms that are seeking guidance on environmental compliance and the allocation of environmental liabilities in mergers and acquisitions.

Heather practices all aspects of environmental law, advising clients on regulatory requirements, assisting them in the evaluation and negotiation of corporate and real estate transactions and representing them in environmental litigation and enforcement matters.   Her areas of expertise include onshore and offshore oil and gas regulation; solid and hazardous waste; oil and gas waste; environmental remediation; water quality; water rights; wetlands; endangered species; Superfund litigation; and compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.  She plays a major role in advising firm clients on the environmental issues surrounding shale play development, hydraulic fracturing and the permitting, construction and operation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import/export facilities in the U.S., and she currently serves as co-editor of Fulbright's hydraulic fracking blog.

Heather has assisted clients in the allocation of environmental liabilities in connection with the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas properties in all of North America's major shale plays, including the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Pearsall and Utica fields.  She also counsels corporations on compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, disclosure of environmental matters in public filings and meeting the requirements of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regulations.

Recent, significant projects include:

Representative Oil and Gas Transactions

• Advised oil and gas companies and private equity investors on the allocation of environmental liabilities in connection with the acquisition and divestiture of oil and gas properties in the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Pearsall, and Utica Shales and the Uinta Basin
• Represented a privately held independent oil and gas company in the $1.45 billion sale of oil and gas properties in the Bakken shale in North Dakota
• Represented a New York Stock Exchange-listed oil and gas exploration and production company in multiple acquisitions of oil and gas properties in the major shale plays in the U.S., totalling more than $400 million
• Represented an independent petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company in the sale of 35% of their interest in oil and gas leases located in the Pearsall Shale in Texas to Japan's second largest gas company
• Represented a Fortune 500 company in its $2.16 billion acquisition of a major manufacturer of chemicals used in operating oil and gas wells

Representative Environmental Counseling Matters

• Representated a New York Stock Exchange-listed energy company in connection with the construction, permitting and operation of LNG import/export facilities in Sabine Pass, Louisiana and Corpus Christi, Texas
• Advised a major independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company on compliance with BSEE's Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regulations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and assisted in development of the company's SEMS program
• Provided counsel to international oil and gas, energy and manufacturing companies on the disclosure of the financial impacts of environmental compliance and loss contingencies, including the potential impact of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and hydraulic fracturing on business operations and financial performance, in their 10-Ks, 10-Qs and other public filings
• Assisted in obtaining Section 404 permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and negotiating contracts for the acquisition of wetlands mitigation credits in connection with the construction of a major energy project

Representative Environmental Enforcement Matters

• Provided counsel to clients named as potentially responsible parties under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) at state and federal Superfund sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas, including serving as common counsel in connection with the Many Diversified Interests Superfund Site in Houston, Texas
  • Negotiated with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state regulatory agencies to reduce settlement amounts on behalf of clients
• Defended a client in a multimillion dollar enforcement action brought by the EPA and the DOJ under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and corresponding state law
• Negotiated reduced settlement amounts for clients in enforcement actions brought by the EPA and states under RCRA, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Clean Air Act (CAA)

• Houston Bar Association
  • Environmental Law Section, Board Member
  • Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section
• State Bar of Texas
  • Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section
  • Litigation Section
• American Bar Association
  • Litigation Section
  • Environmental Litigation Committee
  • Mass Torts Litigation Committee
  • Energy Litigation Committee
  • Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
  • Special Committee on Environmental Disclosure
  • Superfund and Natural Resource Damages Litigation Committee
  • Environmental Transactions and Brownfields Committee 
  • Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Committee

• Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2006 - 2012)
• The Best Lawyers in America
• Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters
  • "Texas Super Lawyer" (2010 - 2012)
  • "Rising Star," Environmental Law (2006 - 2008)
• Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in the United States (2010 - 2011)
• "500 New Stars, New Worlds," Lawdragon (2006)
• "Houston's Top Lawyers," H Texas magazine (2007)
• Who's Who in America
• Who's Who in American Law

• Co-author, "Texas Railroad Commission Adopts Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure Rule, Effective February 1, 2012," Fulbright Alert, December 14, 2011
more
• "Navigating ‘Waters of the United States’," Law360, May 4, 2011
more | view article
• Co-author, "The International Law Firm of Fulbright & Jaworski - Western Lands & Energy," Fulbright Western Lands & Energy Monthly Update - May 2011, May 3, 2011
more
• "U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Issue Draft Guidance on Scope of 'Waters of the United States' Under Clean Water Act," Fulbright Briefing, April 29, 2011
more
• Co-author, "BNSF A Year Later: Joint and Several Liability," Law 360, April 27, 2010

• "The Path to Global Best Practices in Offshore Drilling," Texas Minority Counsel Program, October 2012
• "Environmental Considerations for Leases of Real Property," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Environmental Law Update, September 2012 
• "Regulatory and Environmental Considerations for Hydraulic Fracturing," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. CLE Presentation, September 2012
• "The New Texas Gold: Texas Regulation of Shale Gas in the Barnett, Haynesville and Eagle Ford Shales,"  West Virginia University College of Law Shale Gas Symposium, October 2011
• "RCRA Case Law Update," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Environmental Law Update, October 2011
• "Environmental Issues Associated with Shale Gas," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Shale Gas Seminar, October 2011
• "Hot Topics in Document Production and Retention," Twenty-Third Annual Texas Environmental Superconference, August 2011
• "Keeping Kids Safe on the Internet," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Privacy Seminar, November 2010
• "Ethical Considerations for the Environmental Practitioner," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Environmental Law Update, October 2010
• "Disclosure of Environmental Issues in SEC Filings," American Bar Association Conference on Environmental Issues in Region 6, June 2010
• "State and Federal Site Contamination Law," Texas Land Law Conference for Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors, March 2010
• "Ethical Considerations for the Wetlands Practitioner," Texas Wetlands Conference, February 2010

1994 - J.D., Vanderbilt University
1991 - B.A., cum laude, History and International Studies, Rhodes College

Heather was admitted to practice law in Texas in 1994.

Heather is an avid sports fan with a passion for Houston Astros baseball and Dallas Cowboys football. She enjoys running and has completed a marathon and five half marathons.

• Texas

• United Way of Greater Houston, Alexis de Tocqueville Society, Steering Committee Member
• United Way of Greater Houston, Women's Initiative