Fred Breedlove practices in the environmental, water and natural resources, federal Indian law and public advocacy areas. Fred assists clients with water availability and other natural resource and environmental considerations in the context of both negotiated transactions and litigation. He helps clients navigate permitting processes at state and federal agencies and gain approvals for a wide variety of projects. He is an accomplished lobbyist in Arizona, particularly on water resource issues.

Fred’s previous experience includes serving as deputy counsel at the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) and as a lobbyist for Arizona’s state government under Governors Napolitano and Brewer. After law school, he served as a presidential management intern at the US Department of Energy in Washington DC before moving to Arizona to focus his career on western natural resource policy and public advocacy. His prior Arizona experience includes positions with the Colorado River Indian Tribes, where he worked on a variety of tribal issues including the successful resolution of a reservation boundary dispute, and with the city of Peoria and the Arizona state Senate.

As deputy counsel at ADWR, Fred managed the department’s compliance and enforcement work including representing ADWR at the Office of Administrative Hearings and the state of Arizona on Indian water settlements. In addition, he led efforts to pass bills through the Arizona legislature including a suite of landmark legislation in 2007 that restructured major portions of the 1980 Groundwater Code, keeping Arizona as a recognized leader in water policy and water management in the United States. Fred’s key role in passing this legislation involved managing a coalition of stakeholders from development and agriculture sectors, municipalities and counties, Indian tribes and environmentalists.

Fred is a member of the State Bar of Arizona’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section and serves on its Executive Council.

Fred is the author of the Jonathan B. Chase Paper, “Implementing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in Indian County and Approaches for Amending RCRA to Better Serve Tribal Interests,” which appeared in the Vermont Law Review in 2002.

Representative Experience

• Representing a leading land development and investment company in the development of a major proposed trans-basin water diversion and supply project.
• Representing various clients in environmental reviews, water rights and permit transfers associated with industrial siting, real estate acquisitions, facility sales and corporate merger transactions.
• Advising clients on issues related to the Law of the Colorado River and regional water planning issues.
• Counseling clients on Arizona Groundwater Code compliance with regard to filing annual reports, well permitting, groundwater conservation requirements and groundwater transportation.
• Advising clients on Federal Indian Law issues as they may relate to business, land or water development projects in Indian Country.
• Representing a major industrial client on water resource issues before the Arizona legislature.