United States Tenth Circuit

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act's (CERCLA) comprehensive natural resource damages (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 an action in which New Mexico sought unrestricted money damages exclusively under state law for groundwater contamination in Albuquerque, an appeal from summary judgment for defendants, General Electric Co. and another company, is affirmed in part and dismissed in part for want of jurisdiction.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/31/2006
• Published 11/01/2006

Judges

• BALDOCK, Circuit Judge., Before, McCONNELL, ANDERSON, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James D. Oliver, Special Assistant Attorney General (Caleb Stegall, with him on the briefs), of Foulston Siefkin, LLP, Overland Park, KS, for Plaintiffs-Appellants., John W. Suthers, Interim Attorney General of Colorado, and Victoria L. Peters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Natural Resources & Environment Section, State of Colorado, Denver, CO, filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Donald W. Fowler, Spriggs & Hollingsworth, Washington, DC (Tami Lyn Azorsky of McKenna, Long & Aldridge, Washington, DC, Eric G. Lasker of Spriggs & Hollingsworth, Washington, DC; Maria O'Brien of Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A., Albuquerque, NM;  James A. Bruen and Peter S. Modlin of Farella, Braun & Martell, LLP, San Francisco, CA; Michael B. Campbell and Bradford C. Berge, Holland & Hart, LLP, Santa Fe, NM; Brackett B. Denniston, III, Vice President and General Counsel, Stephen D. Ramsey, Vice President, General Electric Company, Fairfield, CT; Williams V. Killoran, Jr., Senior Counsel, Environmental Affairs, G.E. Transportation, Cincinnati, OH, with him on the briefs), for Defendants-Appellees., Michael R. Thorp of Heller Ehrman LLP, Seattle, WA, filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Defendants-Appellees.