Stephen L Kass

September 01, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, review the revised Equator Principles, released in July by 41 of the world's largest financial institutions. This new version of voluntary standards in project financing requires each borrower to identify, assess and seek to mitigate both environmental and social impacts of a project, including impacts on indigenous communities--a subject of intense concern for projects in developing countries.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

11 minute read

August 25, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, write that despite some modest procedural reforms, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation's citizen submissions process has not significantly improved. A 2001 report urged the Commission to reduce to a maximum of two years the total time required to review submissions, prepare Factual Records, and authorize their release. In the last three years, however, the Commission released five new Factual Records that averaged nearly five years to complete, a time period that effectively vitiates any impact from the exposure of a government's failure to enforce its environmental laws.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

12 minute read

October 26, 2004 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, examine the extent to which environmental claims for violations of customary international law might be asserted.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

12 minute read

June 27, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, discuss the tension between the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation procedures, which encourage enforcement of environmental laws, and NAFTA's Chapter 11 special arbitration procedures, which may impose liability for discriminatory or confiscatory enforcement of environmental and other laws.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

13 minute read

February 22, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, write that the way forward from Bali - technically the 13th Conference of the Parties to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change that took place in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007 - has engendered much discussion in the press, among politicians and policy makers, and within the legal profession. Almost daily, new proposals are unveiled for national, international, regional, or local initiatives to combat global warming.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

14 minute read

January 03, 2002 | New York Law Journal

O n Nov. 10, 2001, delegates from 160 nations, meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, agreed on ground rules to implement the Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 Climate Change Convention. The Marrakesh Accords are widely expected to pave the way for ratification of both the protocol and the convention itself by the required 55 nations representing 55 percent of the world`s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, a series of multi-tiered international obligations will be triggered for convention parties, including requ

By Stephen L. Kass And Jean M. Mccarroll

14 minute read

August 26, 2010 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Carter Ledyard & Milburn's Stephen L. Kass offers an initial assessment of the potential liability of BP or the U.S. government to foreign nations or citizens whose environment or businesses may be injured by the spreading subsurface plume.

By Stephen L. Kass

16 minute read

October 08, 2010 | New York Law Journal

In his International Environmental Law column, Stephen L. Kass, a partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, writes that it is understandable that developing countries have begun to turn their attention to adapting to the now inevitable effects of climate change, rather than to preventing or mitigating those impacts.

By Stephen L. Kass

18 minute read

August 28, 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: With the international community focusing on the critical U.S. and Chinese commitments needed for December's Copenhagen conference on climate change, it is easy to overlook the role of other nations' development projects on the environment and the need for strengthened environmental institutions and enforcement at regional and national levels. One example is the "Interoceanica" highway being constructed in Brazil's and Peru's Amazon regions, which will cross the Amazon and the Andes to link Brazil's Atlantic coast with the Pacific in Peru.

By Stephen L. Kass

9 minute read

February 24, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll, partners at Carter Ledyard & Milburn, analyze a recent Congressional report that examined NEPA-related issues, discussing possible improvements to NEPA and to made recommendations to the committee's chairman and ranking member.

By Stephen L. Kass and Jean M. McCarroll

11 minute read