International Paper Co. v. Ouellette 479 U.S. 481 (1987) Ouellette lived in Vermont, across the lake from International Paper in New York.  Paper.  The paper company produced a lot of air pollution and stinky sulfur. Ouellette sued under the common law concept of the private nuisance. The case ended up in Federal Court, where the Federal Trial Court refused to issue an injunction to stop the paper mill.  Ouellette appealed. The Federal Trial Court ruled that the Clean Water Act preempted Vermont State common law. The Trial Court found that since International was compliant with the Clean Water Act, they were legally immune to State common law complaints. Basically, if different States were allowed to impose separate discharge standards on polluters, the inevitable result would be a serious interference with the "full purpose and objectives of Congress," which is barred by the Constitution. The US Supreme Court reversed and allowed the case to proceed to trial, but under New York law. The US Supreme Court agreed that the Clean Water Act precludes a court from applying the law of an affected State against an out of State source. However, the Court recognized that the Clean Water Act did allow States to set higher standards for themselves than mandated by the Clean Water Act.  Therefore a lawsuit brought in the same State as the polluter would be fine. Vermont can't tell a New York company what to do, but New York can tell their own residents what to do. Basically, the US Supreme Court said that if you want to sue a polluter under the common law private nuisance, you have to do it in the State that the polluter is in. The US Supreme Court made this ruling even though the Clean Water Act §505(e) contains a provision saying that the Act doesn't restrict any common law rights. Btw, on remand, International lost and settled with Ouellette and other Vermont residents for $5M.