Vice President, Matthias Sayer
Matthias has experience solving complex legal and regulatory problems across the energy, water, natural resources, public lands, and wildlife issue areas in the Western United States, with particular experience in New Mexico. Most recently, as Senior Vice President of Legal – Environment, Health, Safety & Regulatory at NGL Energy Partners, LP, Matthias focused his efforts on developing sustainable management solutions for Permian Basin produced water and helping build and implement NGL's compliance programs.
Prior to joining NGL, Matthias served as Deputy Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where he worked with the Secretary and Governor's Office to develop and implement regulatory and policy strategy and oversaw the operations of the State's energy and natural resource regulatory bodies – the Oil Conservation Division and the Mining and Minerals Division. In 2018, working with numerous New Mexico state agencies and the EPA, Matthias spearheaded the development of Oil and Natural Gas Produced Water Governance in the State of New Mexico—Draft White Paper, which set the stage for meaningful advancement of produced water policy in New Mexico.
Prior to serving as Deputy Secretary, Matthias served as General Counsel for the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, where he led endangered species legal strategy and engagement efforts as well as litigation against the federal government, where he won a temporary order restraining certain federal actions that lacked state consent. Matthias also served as Special Counsel to the New Mexico State Engineer in WOTUS litigation and on the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission as Vice-Chair.
Prior to his work in New Mexico, Matthias served as Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Wyoming Attorney General's Office, where he advised the Governor's office and executive agencies, including the State Engineer's Office, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Game and Fish, and the Water Development Commission. In this role, Matthias also functioned as attorney of record for the State on matters in state and federal court and in administrative settings across various issue areas including, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, etc. Matthias also served as co-counsel for the State of Wyoming in Montana v. Wyoming, a Supreme Court original action regarding inter-state water right allocation and management.
Education: Juris Doctor, cum laude, Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana; Bachelors of Science in Finance, Brigham Young University.
Admissions: New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Indiana
Publications: Federalism in Renewable Energy Policy, co-author, Natural Resource & Environment, Vol. 27 No. 1, 2012; Environment, Social, Governance: Getting it right, co-author, Trends, American Bar Association, March 2, 2021