Tenth Circuit Keeps Air Force Challenge to New Mexico Law in Federal Court

ByPFAS Primer Team

The Tenth Circuit has ruled that the U.S. Air Force’s challenge to New Mexico’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permitting requirements may proceed in federal, rather than state, court. The Air Force sued the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) in federal court asserting that its hazardous-waste law exceeds the regulatory authority granted to the state under RCRA, after NMED sought to hold the Air Force responsible for AFFF-related PFAS contamination at Cannon Air Force Base. NMED had argued that RCRA’s sovereign-immunity waiver subjects federal entities to state procedural requirements for management of hazardous waste and that state court jurisdiction is one such procedural requirement. While the district court agreed with NMED, the Tenth Circuit reversed, holding that state judicial review provisions are not procedural requirements under RCRA.

June 16, 2026 | United States v. New Mexico Environment Department, No. 22-2132 (10th Cir.).

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