Sara M. Drescher
Associate
Milwaukee
Biography
Sara M. Drescher represents a variety of corporate, individual, and tribal clients in the areas of environmental, transactional, real estate, construction, redevelopment, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), compliance, mineral resources, energy, and remediation.
Ms. Drescher is a NEPA expert having helped clients through the process on several occasions and currently writing her dissertation on aspects of NEPA, mining and large-scale land use and the ability of the NEPA process to accurately identify and vet the environmental issues arising from proposed developments, including mineral production, using the NEPA process undertaken in the proposed Crandon Mine as a model. Ms. Drescher has drafted non-metallic and metallic mining regulations for Wisconsin Counties and has helped those counties implement legally appropriate regulations. Ms. Drescher is knowledgeable of all laws relevant to the mining process including environmental laws, MSHA, land use laws, and NEPA.
She has a significant background in mining and mineral resources. Ms. Drescher worked for a tribe on the proposed Crandon Mine in Wisconsin and was involved in several aspects of the permitting and overview process including performing oversight of NEPA compliance, reviewing leases, local agreements, regulations, plans and other legal documents to ensure all aspects of the mining operation were considered and compliant with the law, and generally ensuring that mining company and government activities were consistent with all aspects of Wisconsin’s mining code.
Ms. Drescher has considerable energy experience dealing with municipal, private, and tribal entities with legal energy needs. She has written testimony and participated in PSC hearings; advised on siting, rate, billing, contractual, renewable, grants, and other issues. She has also provided analysis for the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the proposed change from coal to renewable for the Charter Street Plant.
Ms. Drescher has an extensive background in contract law, which includes transactional, real estate, master services agreements, and licensing. She has drafted and negotiated contracts and agreements to govern many types of relationships and transactions. Her NEPA experience allowed her to review contracts and agreements on a project wide basis and for all stages from development through operation including, for example, services agreements, end-use licensing, and consulting agreements. Additionally, her environmental and energy practice consistently require negotiation of consulting and services agreements, purchase agreements, transactional contracts, and licensing.
Ms. Drescher is a member of the American and Wisconsin Bar Associations’ Environmental, Land Use, and Real Estate Division, as well as the Milwaukee Bar Association. She has been an active member of the Event Planning Committee for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation since 2002. Prior to joining Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan, Ms. Drescher had a solo legal practice and was a member of the Environmental, Land Use, and Energy Team at a large Milwaukee law firm.
Drescher received a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Marquette University and earned her J.D. from Marquette University Law School. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; her research is focused on Great Lakes-Water resources sustainability, viability, and components of land use. Ms. Drescher is also a distinguished fellow at UW Madison’s Nelson Institute. She is admitted to practice in Wisconsin.
Education & Bar Admissions
Education
- Marquette University Law School, J.D.
- Marquette University, B.A., Psychology and Philosophy
Bar Admissions
- Wisconsin
