FWS determined endangered species status for Guadalupe fatmucket, Texas fatmucket, Guadalupe orb, Texas pimpleback, Balcones spike, and false spike, determined threatened species status for the Texas fawnsfoot, and designated approximately 1,577.5 river miles in total as critical habitat for the seven species of freshwater mussels in central Texas under the ESA.
United States v. Union Carbide Corp., No. 1:24-cv-01463 (D. Colo May 23, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant must pay $600,000 to reimburse response costs incurred at the Uravan Uranium Project Superfund Site, located in Montrose County, Colorado.
SIP Approval: Kentucky (revisions to geographical boundary description and attainment status designation for the Henderson-Webster 2010 primary sulfur dioxide nonattainment area).
SIP Proposal: Georgia (regional haze).
SIP Proposal: District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (revisions to motor vehicle emissions budgets and onroad and nonroad mobile emissions for volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides for years 2025 and 2030).
SIP Proposal: Nebraska (miscellaneous changes).
United States v. TPC Group LLC, No. 24-00187 (E.D. Tex. May 21, 2024). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CAA defendant must pay $12.1 million in civil penalties and spend approximately $80 million to improve its risk management program and improve safety at its petrochemical manufacturing facilities in Port Neches and Houston, Texas, in connection with a November 2019 explosion at the Neches facility and failure to take corrective action at the Houston facility.
SIP Proposal: Arizona (partial approval and partial disapproval of revisions related to regional haze).
NMFS announced its 90-day finding on a petition to list the Delaware River population of Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered distinct population segment (DPS) of Atlantic sturgeon under the ESA and to designate critical habitat for the DPS, finding the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating action may be warranted and denying the petition.
United States v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., No. 4:23-cv-00517 (N.D. Ohio May 23, 2024). In connection with the February 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a proposed consent decree requires a settling CWA and CERCLA defendant to (1) reimburse all response costs incurred by the United States; (2) pay a civil penalty of $15 million; (3) establish a $25 million community health program for qualifying members of the public impacted by the derailment; (4) implement an array of specified rail safety procedures; (5) develop and adopt programs for coordination of rail track restoration and vent and burn procedures; (6) implement a $6 million local waterways remediation plan; (7) pay $175,000 for natural resource damages; and (8) implement compliance and future monitoring requirements.