Steve delivers a talk as part of Stetson Law’s Foreman Biodiversity Lecture Series.
On October 28, Steve visited Stetson College of Law in Florida to share his thoughts about the decline in environmental criminal enforcement by the federal government since 2025, why this matters, and what can be done to address the gap. His talk was part of the Foreman Biodiversity Lecture series, in which global experts, scientists, and environmental attorneys are invited to campus to discuss pressing topics in biodiversity, conservation, and environmental law.
Steve’s talk also focused on why prosecuting criminal behavior is necessary for an effective and fair environmental enforcement program, and on the role the newly launched Institute for Environmental Enforcement (IEE) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in New York will play to help ensure New York State organizations continue to comply with environmental laws in the absence of strong federal enforcement.
Steve is the Founder and Director of the IEE, which aims to train law students to become the next generation of environmental prosecutors, equip current New York state prosecutors and other personnel with the knowledge necessary to efficiently investigate and prosecute violators, and develop data analytics and AI tools in collaboration with Pace’s school of computer science that will make it easier to identify not only patterns in environmental crimes but the “why” — the root cause — behind them.
You can view Steve’s talk in full here.
