ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20188
No(s). 09-1554 (10th Cir. Sep 5, 2012)

The Tenth Circuit held that a congressional mandate calling for the U.S. Army's destruction of chemical weapons at a depot near Pueblo, Colorado, preempts Colorado's authority to regulate hazardous waste within the state. Since the 1950s, the United States has stored chemical weapons at the depot. Congress mandated that the Army destroy those weapons by 2017. Separately, Congress authorized Colorado to regulate hazardous waste within the state. Invoking that regulatory authority, the state's environmental and health agency declared the chemical weapons stored at the depot awaiting destruction to be hazardous waste and sought to enforce the state's regulation prohibiting storage of any hazardous waste. But the court was ultimately persuaded by the detailed manner with which Congress has addressed and mandated the destruction of the chemical weapons stored at the depot and concluded that federal law preempts Colorado's attempt to regulate that destruction process. The court noted that while it is understandable for Colorado to have grown impatient with the Army's delay in destroying the weapons, compelling the United States to comply with the state's prohibition will impede or interfere with Congress' mandate.