Stephen L Kass

August 31, 2012 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Stephen L. Kass, a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, writes: Despite the corporate support for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by the oil and gas industry, shipping firms and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposition among Republican senators to any form of new international agreement threatens to derail ratification at a time when the marine environment is under extreme and potentially irreversible stress, with the most profound implications for mankind.

By Stephen L. Kass

12 minute read

December 22, 2011 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Stephen L. Kass of Carter Ledyard & Milburn writes that, in human terms, deforestation presents direct threats to many indigenous communities, whose livelihoods and cultures depend on the forest, and exacerbates the migration of rural communities either toward their own nation's cities or, in lesser numbers, toward neighboring countries where they hope to continue their rural lifestyles.

By Stephen L. Kass

12 minute read

May 01, 2013 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Stephen L. Kass, a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, write that within the past month, there have been major developments in three unrelated cases - one in the U.S. Supreme Court, one in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and one in the Southern District of New York - that both narrow opportunities for foreign plaintiffs to seek federal judicial relief for environmental injury abroad and demonstrate why the courts should be more open to at least some of those claims.

By Stephen L. Kass

13 minute read

December 22, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, write that the worldwide effort to establish a universal "cap and trade" system, with the Kyoto Protocol as the first step, is already leading to a highly specialized environmental subpractice in emissions trading schemes. Most environmental lawyers, however, still believe that, while climate change is important, it is unlikely to affect their daily practice. We believe that is wrong.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

8 minute read

February 21, 2002 | New York Law Journal

Environmental justice a clarion call for fairness in preserving, managing and allocating environmental resources is poised to take center stage at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which in January released a draft report from its Environmental Justice Advisory Group proposing a broad range of procedural changes for projects in "communities of concern" that are reviewed by DEC under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

By Stephen L. Kass And Jean M. Mccarroll

14 minute read

June 23, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, review three Clean Water Act cases the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided, concentrating on a case where an operator of five dams in Maine argued that water passing momentarily through its dams but remaining in a single water body did not constitute a "discharge" under �401 of the Clean Water Act, and therefore did not require the operator to obtain a Water Quality Certification from the state.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

14 minute read

August 24, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, write that although previous attempts to rescue the world's depleted fish stocks have been far too feeble, late last year, Congress passed the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006, which has a bit more muscle.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

12 minute read

January 02, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, write that in the last six weeks, there have been three long-awaited actions on automobile fuel economy standards in the United States: the Ninth Circuit held the new corporate average fuel economy standards for light trucks were unlawful, a bill including the first increase in statutory fuel economy standards since 1975 was signed into law, and the EPA denied a Clean Air Act waiver to California's vehicle emissions standards.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

13 minute read

December 23, 2010 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Stephen L. Kass, a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, attempts to address the small problem of money to pay for the broad range of adaptation required to permit civil society to survive the effects of climate change in the most vulnerable countries.

By Stephen L. Kass

7 minute read

December 24, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass, a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn and an adjunct professor of international environmental law at Brooklyn Law School, writes: Representatives from 193 nations, the United Nations and several thousand NGOs descended on Copenhagen in early December to try to agree on a coordinated international strategy to limit global climate change and help the most vulnerable nations adapt to its now inevitable impacts. I attended the second week of the conference, eager to see whether, after 17 more years of climate science since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was first adopted, international negotiations, pressure from NGOs at home and abroad, and a more enlightened U.S. administration, the world was ready for effective long-term action on climate change. The answer at Copenhagen was: not yet, but almost.

By Stephen L. Kass

11 minute read