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

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

EPA announced the establishment of the Vector Expedited Review Voucher program, which will incentivize the development of new insecticides to control and prevent the spread of vector-borne disease. 

EPA announced the initiation of and seeks comment on the prioritization process for five chemical substances as candidates for designation as high-priority substances for risk evaluation under TSCA and related implementing regulations.

In re: Mallinckrodt PLC, No. 20-12522 (D. Del. Dec. 4, 2023). A proposed settlement agreement grants the United States an allowed unsecured claim against a settling CERCLA defendant on behalf of DOI in the amount of $56,880,784, and for EPA in the amount of $499,216, for past costs and future liability as a potential liable party at the Sangamo Electric Dump/Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Site. 

United States v. TCI Pacific Communications LLC, No. 23-4218 (C.D. Ill. Dec. 5, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant must pay a total of $368,831.16 in EPA’s response costs and perform remedial work with respect to Operable Unit 4 of the DePue/New Jersey Zinc/Mobil Chemical Corp. Superfund Site in DePue, Illinois. 

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 proposed revisions to the regulations for decabromodiphenyl ether and phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1), two of the five persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals addressed in final rules issued under TSCA in January 2021.

EPA published statements of findings after its review of certain TSCA submissions from September 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023, that certain new chemical substances or significant new uses are not likely to present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.

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.