David Raphael

Practice Areas

David Raphael is a partner in the firm's Environmental, Land, and Natural Resources practice. Prior to joining K&L Gates, David served as Chief Counsel of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) where he provided legal counsel to the Secretary and executive staff of the DEP. In this role, he oversaw a statewide team who represented the department on a variety of environmental compliance, litigation and transactional matters. His experience as an environmental practitioner–spanning more than 25 years in both the public and private sectors—has made him a trusted advisor on some of the largest and most complex energy and petrochemical projects in Pennsylvania.

While in government service, David provided legal advice to the Governor of Pennsylvania and Secretary of PADEP regarding environmental permitting matters related to the siting and construction of an ethylene cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The US$14 billion-dollar project is one of the largest construction projects completed in Pennsylvania since World War II. Since returning to private practice, David has provided legal counsel on environmental permitting matters for the expansion of the natural gas liquids facility, Marcus Hook Terminal (formerly the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex), where he advised on Title V air permitting, air modeling, and NPDES permitting. The Marcus Hook Terminal includes processing units, 3 million barrels of NGL storage, and four export docks with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.

Most recently, David has been retained to provide environmental permitting counsel for the Homer City Redevelopment Project—the largest natural gas–fired data center campus in the United States. This project will entail the construction of a 4.4 gigawatt natural gas-fired facility for a 3,200 acre AI and high-performance computing data center campus.

David represents clients in environmental litigation matters before the Environmental Hearing Board, various state and federal courts, and administrative boards. He also provides environmental counsel on complex transactions and a wide range of environmental compliance issues, including the implementation of environmental compliance and audit policies.

Professional Memberships

He is a supporter of philanthropic activities in Central Pennsylvania, including fundraising events for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Capital Region, Carlisle Arts Learning Center, and Carlisle Area Little League. He has served as President and Vice President of the Carlisle Area Girls Soccer Association and Vice President and Treasurer of the Carlisle Boys Soccer Booster Club.

Publications

David has served as a contributing author to the award-winning Environmental Law Handbook, published by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and has published articles on environmental matters in various legal publications.

Education