ELR Citation: ELR 20219
No(s). 04-2191 (10th Cir. Oct 31, 2006)

The court held that New Mexico may not go forward with their state-law claims for natural resource damages (NRDs) against two companies for groundwater contamination at the South Valley Superfund site. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA’s) NRD scheme preempts any state remedy designed to achieve something other than the restoration, replacement, or acquisition of the equivalent of a contaminated natural resource. In addition, the state's argument that the remedial phase of the cleanup does not address the entirety of the contamination and will not restore the groundwater to beneficial use as drinking water is a challenge to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-ordered remediation, and the state may not challenge the cleanup prior to completion of the remedy. Because the state may not achieve indirectly through the threat of monetary damages, which would be available only to restore or replace the injured natural resource, what it cannot obtain directly through mandatory injunctive relief incompatible with the ongoing CERCLA-mandated remediation, its claims were dismissed.