United States v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, No. 3:15-CV-02283 (D.P.R. June 29, 2023). Under a proposed modification to a consent decree, a settling CWA defendant is granted a deadline extension on implementing projects to address wastewater discharges from drinking water treatment plants.

United States v. Messer LLC, No. 5:23-cv-0023-JPB (N.D.W. Va. June 22, 2023). A settling CWA defendant that violated NPDES permit numeric effluent limits with respect to wastewater discharges from its industrial gas manufacturing plant in New Cumberland, West Virginia, must perform injunctive relief, including operation of a newly installed copper treatment system by certain deadlines, implementation of a tiered effluent limit response plan, and revision and routine performance of stormwater best management practice measures; and pay a $1.9 million civil penalty.

EPA Region 4 proposed to reissue the NPDES general permit for the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico for discharges in the offshore subcategory of the oil and gas extraction point source category.

EPA finalized clarifications to its NPDES Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau, clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems will remain the same.

United States v. Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00867-MJH (W.D. Pa. May 24, 2023). Settling CWA, CAA, and RCRA defendants must perform injunctive relief, including conducting a third-party environmental audit, implementing effluent limit violations response requirements, performing facility specific work and repairs, completing comprehensive stormwater and groundwater control plans, and implementing a RCRA-based training program and daily inspection requirements; as well as pay a $2.4 million civil penalty in connection with alleged violations at a hydrocarbon resins manufacturing facility in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania.

EPA Region 9 proposed to reissue a general NPDES permit for water discharges from facilities classified as low threat located in the Navajo Nation.

EPA proposed to establish federal water quality standards (WQS) for Indian reservation waters that currently do not have WQS in effect under the CWA, with limited exceptions.

EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under the CWA and the APA in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, No. 21-71306 (9th Cir.), which would require the Agency to take specified steps with respect to implementation of the 2021 pesticide general permit (PGP), complete ESA consultation of the 2026 PGP, and propose for public comment certain changes to its monitoring and recordkeeping provisions.

EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under the CWA and the APA in Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. v. U.S. EPA , No. 1:20-cv-2529 (D.D.C.), which would require the Agency to take steps regarding its oversight and funding of Pennsylvania’s efforts under its CWA programs to reduce nutrient and sediment discharges within the state’s portion of the Bay watershed and evaluate by the end of 2026 how each Bay state fared in meeting the 2025 Goal set forward in the last Chesapeake Bay Agreement.

United States v. Holyoke, Massachusetts, City of, No. 19-cv-10332-MGM (D. Mass. Mar. 22, 2023). A settling CWA defendant that discharged pollutants from unpermitted components of its sewer collection system to the Connecticut River must separate portions of the sewer collection system, upgrade certain elements of the combined sewer system, implement an illicit discharge detection and elimination program to address stormwater discharges, and pay a $50,000 civil penalty.