Douglas C. Nelson, JD, PhD
President, Law Office of Douglas C. Nelson, P.C.

Dr. Douglas C. Nelson is a licensed attorney and natural resource economist.  In addition to the practice of law, he consults with and provides economic, planning and management services to private entities and public agencies.  He assisted in planning and developing one of the largest private irrigation systems and the largest commercial agricultural project in the United States (1973 –1985).  Under Dr. Nelson’s leadership, he also created and managed a major public power-distribution entity in the southwestern United States1980-96

Dr. Nelson continues to represent both public and private clients in the planning, regulation and management of water, energy and other natural resources.  Under his guidance, he has developed entities and provided planning, development and management policies and programs for more efficient utilization of limited natural resources while addressing their cost-benefit, regulatory elements and environmental protection.  Dr. Nelson has developed and instituted competitive bid processes and administered numerous construction projects.

Dr. Nelson represents clients before the State of Nebraska, State of Arizona and the United States Congress.

As Executive Vice-President of the Arizona Rural Water Association since 1989, he currently provides leadership in developing water and related-resource policies and programs.  He has also organized and is the Managing Director of the Arsenic Remediation Coalition.

Dr. Nelson has more than a hundred presentations before regulatory boards and civic organizations on managing water, power and other natural resources.  He also has published several articles on these subjects.

Dr. Nelson presently chairs the 3-member Arizona Water Quality Appeals Board that reviews decisions made by the State regulatory agency on water quality issues (1998 – present).
He serves on the Water Systems Coordinating Council for the State of Arizona and is a director of the Water Utilities Association of Arizona.

Dr. Nelson is a Fellow of the Arizona Bar Foundation and a member of the Nebraska and Arizona Bar Associations. He is a member of the Environmental and Natural Resources Section of the State Bar of Arizona.  Dr. Nelson was also past president of the Arizona Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.  He is a member of the American Public Power Association, American Agricultural Law Association and several other professional and civic organizations...  He serves also on the Advisory Council to the Nebraska College of Law.

He has received numerous awards for his work in resource planning and management, including from the American Right of Way Association, Hohokam Resource Conservation and Development, Inc., Chambers of Commerce, Arizona Planning Association, Valley Leadership, and the International Association of Assessing Officers.

Dr. Nelson graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, in Lincoln, Nebraska, with a Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degrees in Agricultural Economics.  He has also a Jurist Doctorate Degree from the University Of Nebraska College Of Law and a PhD from the University of Nebraska in Resource Economics.   He was a member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon Economics Honorary and Alpha Zeta Agricultural Honorary, and he was a recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award for Administrative Law.  Dr. Nelson served as the first international delegate to Uganda, East Africa under the IFYE Program (1968), a member of a Central American business management evaluation team (1972) and a legal delegate to the People’s Republic of China (1982).