EPA announced the availability of and seeks comment on draft guidance to expand the availability of virucidal claims for antimicrobial pesticides and provide framework for registrants who seek to make such claims.

EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under the CWA and the APA in Gunpowder Riverkeeper v. Regan, No. 1:20-cv-02063 (D.D.C.), concerning allegations that the Agency's approval of Maryland’s submission of TMDLs of PCBs for the Gunpowder and Bird Rivers was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the APA.

United States v. J.R. Simplot Co., No. 1:23-cv-322 (D. Wyo. July 11, 2023). A settling RCRA, CAA, CERCLA, and EPCRA defendant must pay a $1.5 million civil penalty; implement compliance projects at its phosphoric acid and fertilizer manufacturing plant located near Pocatello, Idaho, known as the Don Plant; comply with specified requirements for management of wastes or other materials at the facility and in the facility’s phosphogypsum stack system; comply with specified requirements for the eventual closure and long-term care of the facility and provide financial assurance to cover the estimated cost of such obligations; continue groundwater and surface monitoring and reporting as required by a prior CERCLA consent decree; comply with specified operational practices for air emissions controls and replace the existing cooling towers with cooling pond(s) to reduce fluoride emissions into the air from the Don Plant; and revise the annual Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Reporting Forms it submitted under EPCRA for years 2004-2012 to include estimates of compounds that previously were not included.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration proposed to amend its existing regulations to better protect mine workers against occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica, a carcinogenic hazard, and to improve respiratory protection for all airborne hazards.

EPA added a diisononyl phthalate category to the list of toxic chemicals subject to the reporting requirements under EPCRA and the Pollution Prevention Act.

United States v. Massachusetts Electric Co., No. 1:23- cv-11524 (D. Mass. July 7, 2023). A settling CERCLA defendant must provide $5.38 million to federal and state natural resources trustees to undertake habitat restoration work in the coastal area in the vicinity of the former Gloucester Gas Light Company Manufactured Gas Plant in Gloucester, Massachusetts, for damages relating to the release of hazardous substances to soils, sediments, groundwater, and surface water from the plant.

NOAA revised its Consultation Handbook describing procedures for government-to-government consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes, and updated an associated NOAA Administrative Order (NAO 218-8) and the Indigenous Knowledge guidance.

DOI, acting through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, proposed to modify its criteria for determining whether oil, gas, and sulfur lessees, right-of-use and easement grant holders, and pipeline right-of-way grant holders may be required to provide bonds or other financial assurance above the current regulatorily prescribed base bonds to ensure compliance with their Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act obligations.