United States v. Wyeth Holdings LLC, No. 2:23-cv-22922 (D.N.J. Dec. 6, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant that allegedly released hazardous substances at or from the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in Somerset County, New Jersey, causing injury to floodplains, riparian areas, and wetlands adjacent to the site and the biota supported by these habitats, must undertake and fund the “Duke Farms Forested Floodplain Restoration Project,” which will restore 112 areas of former farmland located upstream of the site on the Raritan River to a natural habitat, as well as pay for assessment and oversight costs.

EPA entered into a proposed administrative settlement under CERCLA for the recovery of past response costs concerning the Seerley Road Fire Site in Indianapolis, Indiana.

EPA entered into a proposed CERCLA §122(g)(4) de minimus landowner administrative settlement agreement for parties associated with the Fansteel Metals/FMRI Superfund site in Muskogee, Oklahoma. 

United States v. Cleveland-Cliffs Burns Harbor LLC, No. 23-381 (N.D. Ind. Nov. 8, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant that allegedly released cyanide and ammonia into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River during an August 2019 incident, which led to beach closures, a fish kill, and other natural resource damages, must donate and conserve two approximately one-acre parcels of land bordering the East Branch of the Little Calumet River and near the Indiana Dunes National Park, pay $409,533 to the DOI Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Fund, and pay $590,173 to the governments for reimbursement of natural resource damages assessment costs.

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. 

EPA proposed to enter into an administrative settlement agreement under CERCLA with Cone Mills Acquisition Group, LLC, concerning remedial action/remedial design to be performed at the U.S. Finishing, LLC and Cone Mills Corporation Superfund Site. 

EPA proposed to enter into individual settlements with three parties concerning recovery of CERCLA costs for cleanup that was performed at the Bennett Landfill Fire Site located in Chester, South Carolina. 

EPA entered into an administrative settlement agreement under which settling parties will transfer certain mining claims to the purchaser, which will in turn support the purchaser’s efforts to preserve the important historical structures on these mining claims at the Nelson Tunnel/Commodore Waste Rock Superfund Site in Mineral County, Colorado.

United States v. Dravo Corp., No. 8:01-cv-00500-JFB-TBT (D. Neb. Oct. 10, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant must pay $131,067 for response costs incurred and to be incurred by EPA at the Hastings Groundwater Contamination Superfund site.

United States v. Smith and Edwards Co., No. 1:23-cv-00108-HCN (D. Utah Sept. 29, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, settling CERCLA defendants will pay $2,290,065 and $300,000 to reimburse EPA’s response costs in connection with an emergency removal action at the Ogden Swift Building Superfund site in Ogden, Utah, and settling federal agencies will pay $2,290,065 to resolve a potential counterclaim against the United States.