The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to suspend authorization of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation in rail tank cars pursuant to a final rule published on July 24, 2020, pending the earlier of either completion of a companion rulemaking evaluating potential modifications to requirements governing rail tank car transportation of LNG, or June 30, 2025.

EPA granted the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management the authority to implement and enforce the amended Rhode Island Code of Regulations, Control of Emissions from Organic Solvent Cleaning, and the General Definitions Regulation in place of the Halogenated Solvent NESHAP.

SIP Proposal: North Carolina (modification to emission control standards).

SIP Approval: Rhode Island (revisions to regulation for controlling emissions from organic solvent cleaning).

EPA granted emergency exemptions under FIFRA for the use of certain pesticides to control pest outbreaks to Arizona, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and denied emergency exemptions to Colorado and Nebraska.

SIP Proposal: Indiana (revisions to volatile organic compound rules).

United States v. Atlantic Richfield Co., No. 4:23-cv-00050-BMM (D. Mont. Aug. 22, 2023). Under a proposed consent decree, a settling CERCLA defendant must (1) perform certain remedial actions to address soil contamination, (2) pay EPA $464,475.12 in reimbursement of past response costs, and (3) reimburse EPA for future costs, in connection with the release of hazardous substances at the ACM Smelter and Refinery Site in Cascade County, Montana.

EPA approved revisions to the Navajo Nation's primacy program under the SDWA that adopted regulations effectuating the federal Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule and the Ground Water Rule.

EPA approved revisions to Guam's primacy program under the SDWA that adopted regulations effectuating the federal Revised Total Coliform Rule.

EPA finalized several amendments to the PCB regulations, including an expanded set of extraction and determinative methods that can be used to characterize and verify the cleanup of PCBs waste; amendment of the performance-based disposal option for PCB remediation waste; removal of the provision allowing PCB bulk product waste to be disposed of as roadbed material; and the addition of more flexible provisions for cleanup and disposal of waste generated by spills that occur during emergency situations.