Ben Clapp, Business Attorney in Washington, District of Columbia

Area of Emphasis

Ben Clapp is a shareholder in the Environmental, Corporate and Commercial, and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland. He serves as chair of the Firm’s Environmental Group. Mr. Clapp’s transactional work, which straddles the Firm’s Environmental and Corporate practice areas, consists of advising clients on the environmental components of complex deals, including identifying and analyzing significant environmental liability and compliance issues arising in connection with mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, project financings, environmental liability transfers, and corporate restructurings, and working to resolve, manage, allocate or mitigate these environmental risks in the client’s best interest. To that end, Mr. Clapp has extensive experience drafting and negotiating environmental representations and warranties, covenants, indemnities, and other contractual provisions, and counseling clients on pre- and post-closing environmental compliance and permitting matters. Mr. Clapp’s transactional clients have included buyers, sellers, financing sources, and underwriters in transactions taking place across a wide range of industries, including the upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas sectors, renewable energy, brownfields redevelopment, real estate, utilities, chemicals, manufacturing, mining, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, he advises and counsels companies in the development of hyper-scale data center projects, ensuring compliance with relevant laws and environmental regulations.

Mr. Clapp is a member of the Firm’s PFAS Working Group, which advises clients across business sectors on the evolving regulatory, legislative, litigation and transactional landscapes related to PFAS, with his practice focused primarily on advising clients on PFAS-related risks associated with mergers and acquisitions, real property purchases, and brownfield redevelopment. Mr. Clapp has substantial experience advising power generators and real estate developers on regulations governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals and provides regulatory guidance and environmental diligence services to developers, investors and lenders involved in the development and operation of renewable energy facilities. He also advises project developers and investors as they encounter state and federal environmental review, facility siting, and permitting requirements, with a particular focus on providing advice on National Environmental Policy Act requirements to clients seeking government agency approvals for large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. In this role, Mr. Clapp works closely with clients, environmental consultants, and government agencies to facilitate timely and accurate satisfaction of environmental regulatory requirements.

Background

Mr. Clapp earned is J.D., cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law in 2008 and his B.A. from the University of Richmond in 1996. He served as Senior Staff for the American University Law Review and interned for the Honorable Reggie B. Walton in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Memberships and Affiliations

Mr. Clapp is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Maryland.