FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA of 22 animal and plant species. 

FWS announced 90-day findings on petitions to list Betta hendra, Betta rutilans, Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, pygmy rabbit, Railroad Valley toad, Southern Plains bumble bee, Southwest spring firefly, white-margined penstemon, and yellow-spotted woodland salamander, finding that listing may be warranted under the ESA. 

EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under RCRA and CERCLA with St. Croix Petrochemical Corporation (SCPC), under which SCPC would transfer its remaining assets of approximately $1.7 million to help fund remediation of contamination caused by SCPC’s former Hovensa refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. 

United States v. Ohio Refining Co., No. 3:24-cv-00039 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 8, 2024). Under five proposed consent decrees, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants that released hazardous substances and oil at the Duck & Otter Creeks NRDA Site near Toledo, Ohio, must collectively pay $7,225,909 in natural resource damages (NRD) and $903,239 as reimbursement for NRD assessment costs incurred by DOI.

DOE gave notice that the Environmental Management Advisory Board will be renewed for a two-year period beginning January 12, 2024.

DOE announced the availability of final guidance setting forth the nonbinding process that the agency plans to generally follow to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors pursuant to the Federal Power Act.

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for the Aleutian shield fern and the Alaska breeding population of Steller’s eider. 

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for five northeastern species. 

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for three plant and 13 animal species. 

NMFS prohibited the retention and possession of oceanic whitetip sharks in U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, and hammerhead sharks in U.S. waters of the Caribbean Sea.