EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under RCRA and CERCLA with St. Croix Petrochemical Corporation (SCPC), under which SCPC would transfer its remaining assets of approximately $1.7 million to help fund remediation of contamination caused by SCPC’s former Hovensa refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. 

United States v. Ohio Refining Co., No. 3:24-cv-00039 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 8, 2024). Under five proposed consent decrees, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants that released hazardous substances and oil at the Duck & Otter Creeks NRDA Site near Toledo, Ohio, must collectively pay $7,225,909 in natural resource damages (NRD) and $903,239 as reimbursement for NRD assessment costs incurred by DOI.

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for the Aleutian shield fern and the Alaska breeding population of Steller’s eider. 

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for five northeastern species. 

FWS initiated five-year status reviews under the ESA for three plant and 13 animal species. 

The U.S. Sentencing Commission seeks comment on proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines, policy statements, and commentary.

NMFS prohibited the retention and possession of oceanic whitetip sharks in U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, and hammerhead sharks in U.S. waters of the Caribbean Sea. 

NMFS designated approximately 2,384.67 square kilometers of aquatic habitat located off the coasts of southeastern Florida, Puerto Rico, Navassa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as critical habitat for the threatened Nassau grouper pursuant to §4 of the ESA. 

FWS determined endangered species status for the black-capped petrel under the ESA. 

EPA adjusted the level of the maximum and minimum statutory civil monetary penalty amounts under the statutes it administers.