The Army Corps of Engineers finalized a rule implementing a new credit assistance program for safety projects to maintain, upgrade, and repair dams identified in the National Inventory of Dams with a primary owner type of state, local government, public utility, or private.

EPA issued a supplemental proposal to amend provisions in the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule to improve the quality and consistency of the rule, by providing for the collection of improved data that would better inform and be relevant to a wide variety of CAA provisions.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration proposed regulatory amendments that implement congressional mandates in the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2020 to reduce methane emissions from new and existing gas transmission lines, distribution pipelines, regulated gas gathering pipelines, underground natural gas storage facilities, and liquefied natural gas facilities.

EPA determined that the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, fine particulate matter nonattainment area attained the 2012 fine particulate matter NAAQS by its December 31, 2021, “moderate” area attainment date.

United States v. Bank of America, No. 3:23-cv-02598 (D.N.J. May 15, 2023). A settling CERCLA defendant must perform remedial action relating to vapor intrusion and groundwater at the White Swan Cleaners/Sun Cleaners Area Ground Water Contamination Superfund site in Wall Township, New Jersey; pay the United States $10.8 million for past and future response costs and up to $1.5 million for future oversight costs; and pay a total of $6.5 million to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Department Commissioner, and the Administrator of the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund to resolve its liability for past and future costs and for natural resource damages.

SIP Approval: Nevada (partial approval and partial disapproval of revisions regarding the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the 2015 ozone NAAQS and reclassification of a region of the state for emergency episode planning purposes with respect to ozone).

EPA finalized its redesignation of the Detroit, Michigan area to attainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS.

EPA determined that the Detroit, Michigan, nonattainment area attained the 2015 ozone NAAQS.

SIP Proposal: New Jersey (revisions related to the 2008 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, including a 2017 calendar year ozone precursor emission inventories for volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide for the Northern New Jersey portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island NY-NJ-CT nonattainment area and the Southern New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE nonattainment area).

HUD and USDA announced and seek comment on a preliminary determination regarding energy efficiency standards for new construction of HUD- and USDA-financed housing as a first step to require compliance with these standards in HUD and USDA housing covered by the Energy Independence and Security Act.