ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20053
No(s). 19-2197 (10th Cir. May 3, 2022)

The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss a CWA citizen suit concerning the release of contaminated water from an inactive gold mine in Colorado. Nearby farmers filed suit in a New Mexico district court, alleging several state-law claims. A hazardous waste management company moved to dismiss, arguing the farmers failed to state a claim because they did not file within Colorado's two-year statute of limitations. The district court denied the motion, finding that New Mexico's three-year statute of limitations applied to the farmers' claims. The appellate court found that both the CWA and the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the CWA compelled application of the point source state's statute of limitations to state-law claims preserved under the Act. It reversed and remanded for further proceedings.