
Greg Sopkin has been working on energy, telecommunications and environmental matters for over 20 years. At the EPA, Greg focused on air quality standards attainment, oil and gas operation compliance, complex Superfund site issues, agriculture and pesticide matters, and drinking water/wastewater/WOTUS compliance. Greg worked closely with air, water, land, and legal directors at the regional and national levels on various legal issues, enforcement matters and rulemakings.
Greg also has represented energy and telecommunications clients at Squire Sanders and Gorsuch Kirgis LLP and represented the Colorado PUC as an assistant attorney general in the Colorado Attorney General’s office. He taught at the University of Colorado and has been a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, serving on the telecommunications, energy and critical infrastructure committees; a member of the Federalist Society, serving on the telecommunications and electronic media practice group executive committee; and director of the Federation for Economically Rational Utility Policy. He received his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Colorado School of Law, where he was on the University of Colorado Law Review, and his BS, with high honors, in 1988 from the University of Illinois. Sopkin, his wife Rebecca and six children live in Lakewood, Colorado.
Honors
- Former Vice-Chair, Energy Bar Association State Commission Practice Committee
- Member, Energy Bar Association Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group
- Member, Executive Committee, Federalist Society
- Co-Chair, Video Programming & Distribution Committee, Federal Communications Bar Association (2009-2011)
- Past: Member, Telecommunications, Energy, and Critical Infrastructure Committees, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)
Publications
- Co-Author, “The Final Clean Power Plan” (American Coal, November 2015).
- Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson, “The Clean Power Plan: Carbon Trading, State Legislation and the Political Economy Issue” October 2015
- Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
“The New Building Block 3 and the Final Rule August 15, 2015.” - Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
EPA’s CO2 Rules and the Common Elements Approach – April 28, 2015 - Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson State Implementation of CO2 Rules: Institutional and Practical Issues with State and Multi-State Implementation and Enforcement November 2014
- Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
EPA’s CO2 Rules and the Cooperative and Municipal Question
Regulatory Issues Implicated by the Proposed Rule
October 2014 - Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
EPA’s CO2 Rules and the State Institutional Problem September 2014 - Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
EPA’s CO2 Rule and 18 States’ Resolutions and Legislation EPA’s Proposed CO2 Rule Collides with Flexibility Asserted by States - Raymond L. Gifford • Gregory E. Sopkin • Matthew S. Larson
State Implementation of CO2 Rules Institutional and Practical Issues with State and Multi-State Implementation and Enforcement
Speeches and Presentations
- Speeches and presentations to, among others, Regions 8 DEQs, agriculture directors, O&G commissions; CO and UT mining associations; CO, UT, ND oil and gas associations; American Petroleum Institute; Federal Communications Bar Association, Colorado Bar Association, University of Colorado, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Federalist Society, Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program, and multiple energy associations regarding the following topics:
- Environmental air, water, and lands compliance
- Superfund sites in Colorado and Montana
- Generation resources, planning, and reliability
- RPS Mandates and Solar and wind energy development
- Transmission Line Disputes
- Rate Case issues
- Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005
- Natural gas price volatility
- Regional Transmission Organizations and Standard Market Design
- Renewable energy and demand side management
- Advanced meter and price response programs
- Federal and state telecommunications jurisdiction and preemption
- Legal and policy issues related to VoIP, wireless services, the Universal Service Fund, unbundled network elements, and inter-carrier compensation