Chad Baker

Chad Baker is a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy & Natural Resource department. Chad assists clients with identifying and implementing practical approaches for addressing environmental, natural resource and energy issues throughout all phases of a project’s lifecycle including due diligence, permitting, compliance and enforcement and divestment or closure. 

Before joining Parsons Behle & Latimer, Chad was environmental and permitting counsel with Rio Tinto. In this role, he was responsible for environmental, natural resource and energy matters for Rio Tinto’s U.S. operations. During his tenure at Rio Tinto, Chad led the legal team responsible for optimizing a facility’s electric generation and secured a long-term energy supply agreement requiring complex legislative, regulatory and commercial negotiations and solutions. He also served on Rio Tinto’s business reliance team, which provided management, business and legal response to emergency events including the Manefay slide – believed to be the largest in-pit slope failure. Prior to joining Rio Tinto, Chad held a corporate counsel position with an engineering company and was an associate in the Phoenix office of Squire Sanders & Dempsey. Chad began his legal career as a litigator in Phoenix, Ariz.

Chad is the current board chair of the Utah Mining Association.  He also serves on the Utah Resource Advisory Council, which advises the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Utah State director and is a former co-chair of the National Mining Associations’ water quality subcommittee.  Chad attended the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where among other honors, he served as an editor of Jurimetrics, The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology.  He also holds a master’s degree in environmental science & engineering.