Director-level HSSE, regulatory, and permitting advisory for large-scale energy infrastructure — supporting investors, developers, and lenders through M&A diligence, FEL stage-gate reviews, and permitting strategy.
Ammonia · Hydrogen · SAF · LNG · CCS · Power · Pipelines · Wind · Solar
Kris Knudsen is a director-level HSSE, regulatory, and permitting leader with 25+ years on capital-intensive energy infrastructure projects ranging from $500M to $10B+. He has led permitting strategy, agency engagement, and regulatory execution on large-scale LNG export terminals, blue ammonia facilities, green methanol plants, solar and wind portfolios, and pipeline infrastructure across the U.S.
His practice advises private equity and infrastructure investors, project developers, project finance lenders, and outside counsel at the moments where permitting and regulatory exposure most often becomes deal risk or schedule risk — and where most organizations lack a dedicated senior practitioner to weigh in.
Kris is fluent in the full U.S. energy-infrastructure obligation stack: USACE Section 404/10, NEPA, FERC, EPA NSR/PSD, Title V, Class VI well permitting, USCG, and the state and local authorizations that govern siting and operation. He has served as primary agency point of contact on projects governed by FERC, USACE, LDEQ, MDEQ, and multi-state portfolios, and has guided projects through complex multi-stakeholder environments involving international investors, federal regulators, and major EPC contractors.
Available on a project, retainer, or day-rate basis. Houston, TX.
Independent permitting, HSSE, and regulatory review for buyers, offtakers, or lenders considering a project acquisition, offtake agreement, or financing commitment. Identifies fatal flaws, schedule risk, undisclosed permit obligations, and post-close remediation cost. Delivered at deal-team velocity.
Independent evaluation of front-end loading deliverables against company stage-gate criteria and industry standards. Assesses permitting execution-readiness before capital authorization — identifying gaps in permit coverage, agency engagement, schedule assumptions, and integration with engineering and EPC planning.
Permitting roadmap and agency engagement strategy for greenfield or brownfield development. Covers USACE / NEPA / air / water sequencing, critical-path analysis, agency interface planning, and risk-weighted alternatives. Deliverable-based; sized to match development stage.
Project- or portfolio-level risk reviews, permit obligation matrices, compliance audits, and remediation plans for operating or pre-operational assets. Translates complex regulatory exposure into business-relevant risk language for leadership, investors, and lenders.
Audit of a project’s permitting record — alternatives analysis, emissions classification, modeling assumptions, and public comment responses — for litigation vulnerability, with a remediation memo. For projects facing or anticipating a permit challenge.
AI-assisted extraction and structured compilation of all permit conditions, reporting deadlines, and compliance triggers across a project’s full permit set. Delivered as a traceable obligation register tied to construction phase and operations milestones. Fixed-fee per site.
Environmental and Social Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) gap analysis and IFC Performance Standards / Equator Principles compliance readiness for projects seeking international project finance. Bridges U.S. regulatory permitting to lender E&S due diligence requirements.
I work with a limited number of clients at any time to ensure senior-level attention on every engagement. If you have a permitting or regulatory challenge affecting a deal, a project schedule, or a compliance program, I'm glad to have a direct conversation about whether I can help.
All inquiries are held in strict confidence.
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