OSM approved, with two deferrals, an amendment to the Virginia regulatory program under SMCRA.

EPA proposed to establish new and revised human health water quality criteria for certain pollutants in the state of Florida. 

United States v. Chattanooga, City of, No. 1:12-cv-00245 (E.D. Tenn. Dec. 3, 2023). A proposed modification to an existing consent decree concerning a settling CWA defendant’s alleged violations with respect to the city's POTWs extends certain deadlines to achieve compliance with the consent decree while adding significant remedial projects that must be completed within five years. 

EPA Region 6 announced an initial revised designation determination that stormwater discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area (as defined by the latest decennial Census) and Los Alamos National Laboratory property in Los Alamos County and Santa Fe County, New Mexico, are contributing to violations of New Mexico water quality standards and require NPDES permit coverage under the CWA.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement proposed to incorporate certain documents by reference—Production Measurement Industry Standards and Safety Industry Standards, including one International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission standard—into the regulations governing oil, gas, and sulfur operations on the outer continental shelf.

United States v. Electron Hydro, LLC, No. 2:20-CV-1746-JCC (W.D. Wash. Nov. 20, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, settling CWA defendants whose construction activity at a hydroelectric facility on the Puyallup River in Pierce County, Washington, allegedly involved illegal discharges into waters of the United States and violations of Army Corps of Engineers and state of Washington permits must pay a $1.025 million civil penalty, conduct surveys of stretches of the Puyallup River to recover discharged materials, implement best management practices at the construction site, hire a separate firm to review upcoming permit application materials, and place a 72-acre parcel of land into conservation in perpetuity.

All 10 EPA regions seek comment on the draft 2026 NPDES pesticide general permit, which covers point source discharges from the application of pesticides to waters of the United States.

EPA announced the availability of draft guidance on applying the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund in the CWA §402 NPDES permit program for point source discharges that travel through groundwater before reaching a water of the United States.

EPA adopted a Bureau of Indian Affairs’ categorical exclusion for waste management activities involving remediation of hazardous waste sites under NEPA for use by EPA’s Contaminated Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Lands Assistance Program. 

United States v. ACF Industries LLC, No. 3:23-cv-1603 (D. Or. Nov. 1, 2023). Under two proposed consent decrees, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants whose facilities along the Willamette River released hazardous substances must pay cash and/or purchase restoration credits in one or more restoration projects approved by the Natural Resource Trustees to create habitat for injured natural resources, and make payments for the public’s lost recreational use of the river, for monitoring of culturally significant plants and animals, and for reimbursement of the Natural Resource Trustees’ costs.