Dietrich focuses his practice on complex regulatory matters for a wide range of clients across numerous industries including energy, utilities, natural resources, and alcoholic beverages. Dietrich is also a member of the firm’s renewable energy decommissioning industry team, focusing on strategies to address and anticipate changing regulations affecting end-of-life issues for renewable energy facilities. His experience includes matters related to:

  • Regulated and cooperative utilities, including transmission planning, rate-regulation, and complaint cases before state public utilities commissions.
  • Environmental permitting for renewable energy, mining, and industrial projects.
  • Development of mining and energy projects on public lands.
  • Purchase and sale of properties with significant water, mineral, or other natural resource components.
  • Hazardous substances issues related to real estate sales and developments.
  • Wetlands issues, including waters of the United States determinations and Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting.
  • State and federal liquor licensing and regulation, including new licenses, transfers of ownership, defense of state liquor code investigations, license renewals, and other areas relating to the regulation of liquor-licensed businesses.

Prior to joining the firm, Dietrich was an attorney at the Colorado Office of the Attorney General, where he worked on energy utility and consumer protection matters. He was also a research fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, where he focused on energy regulation.

Professional & Civic Engagement

  • City of Louisville, Colorado, City Council Member
  • Denver Regional Council of Governments, Board Member
  • Colorado Bar Association Environmental Law Section, Secretary/Treasurer, 2021-2022, Vice Chair, 2022-2023, Chair, 2023-2024
  • Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Board Member, 2017-2020
  • Friends of Chamber Music, Board Member
  • Electric Cooperative Bar Association, Member
  • Energy Bar Association, Member
  • Colorado Bar Association, Member
  • American Bar Association, Member

Honors & Awards

  • Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch," Energy Law, Natural Resources Law, 2021-2025

Thought Leadership

  • Evolution of Decommissioning Requirements in Renewable Energy , Co-Author, POWER, September 22, 2024
  • ‘We’re in for some big changes’: Takeaways from 2023’s environmental law battles, Quoted, E&E News, December 22, 2023
  • Presenter, "Decommissioning and End-of-Life Considerations for Solar and Wind Projects," Lewis Roca Webinar, December 2023
  • Renewable Energy Sector Faces Test as Projects Near End of Life, Quoted, Bloomberg Law, September 7, 2023
  • Presenter, "What Are Energy Markets and Why Are We Talking About Them Now?" CEMS Fall Conference, September 2023
  • EPA's new WOTUS rule still lacking for some critics, Quoted, Agweek, August 31, 2023
  • Greenhouse Gas Regulation in Organized Electricity Markets, Author, American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Vol.33, No.3, Winter 2023 
  • 7 Cases That Reshaped Environmental Law in 2022, Quoted, E&E News, December 22, 2022
  • Federal Water Quality - U.S. Supreme Court Stays Vacatur of CWA 401 Rule, Author, The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law - Water Law Newsletter, Summer 2022
  • Federal Water Quality, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. LIV, No. 3, November 3, 2021
  • Supreme Court Establishes CWA 'Functional Equivalence' Test for Discharges to Groundwater, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 53, No. 2, July 9, 2020
  • Federal Water Quality - WOTUS Rule Updates, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 52, No. 2, June 1, 2019
  • Update on CWA Regulation of Discharges to Groundwater, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 52, No.1, January 1, 2019
  • Hop Culture Meet and Greet, September 20, 2018
  • Regulation of Discharges to Groundwater Under the CWA, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 51, No.2, October 1, 2018
  • Ninth Circuit Holds That Some Discharges into Groundwater Are Regulated by the Clean Water Act, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 51, No. 1, January 03, 2018
  • Trump Administration Bolsters Buy American and Hire American Policies, Co-Author, PACA Pulse, June 12, 2017
  • Federal Water Quality, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, January 03, 2017
  • Army Corps of Engineers Jurisdictional Determination Reversed on Remand of Hawkes, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 03, 2017
  • Supreme Court Holds That Clean Water Act Jurisdictional Determinations Are Immediately Reviewable, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 49, No. 3, November 11, 2016
  • EPA Final Rule Revisiting Effluent Limitations Guidelines for Steam Electric Power Plants; Court Challenges Consolidated, Author, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Water Law Newsletter, Vol. 49, No. 1, March 3, 2016
  • Common Environmental Due Diligence Mistakes to Avoid, Co-Author, Colorado Real Estate Journal, January 2, 2016