This case is a continuation of the State's suit against gasoline suppliers, refiners and chemical manufacturers seeking damages for groundwater contamination allegedly caused by Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) contamination of New Hampshire's groundwater. MTBE is a chemical compound that has been used as a gasoline additive to increase octane levels of fuel. The State banned MTBE as a gasoline additive effective January 1, 2007. In a related case brought by the cities of Dover and Portsmouth, State v. Dover, 153 N.H. 181 (2006)(see the "Court Update" case summary published in the March 2006 issue of New Hampshire Town and City), the Court dismissed the cities' cases and held that the State, rather than the two cities, was the proper party to bring suit against the MTBE defendants because it "has a quasi-sovereign interest in protecting the health and well-being, both physical and economic, of its residents with respect to the statewide water supply." In this case, the Court reviewed the public trust doctrine and the parens patriae doctrine as they relate to the State's ability to recover damages for contamination to privately-owned wells, in the same way it may recover for contamination of publicly-owned wells.
The public trust doctrine provides that the government holds public lands, waters and other natural resources in trust for the benefit of its citizens. As trustee, the government "must act as a fiduciary in its management of the resources which constitute the corpus of the trust." The doctrine allows a state attorney general, as trustee, to litigate to protect natural resources held in trust by a state. On the other hand, parens patriae is a concept of standing which allows a state to protect certain "quasi-sovereign" interests including the health, comfort and welfare of the state's citizens, inter-state water rights and the general economy of the state. Thus, parens patriae may provide a state with standing to bring suit to protect a broader range of natural resources than the public trust doctrine because it does not require state ownership of such resources.
The MTBE defendants argued that damages related to privately-owned wells are purely private in nature and, as such, the State should not be able to recover damages in its capacity as parens patriae. The Court held that the State, in its capacity as parens patriae, may recover some, but not all, damages related to MTBE contamination in privately-owned wells. Those claims that are purely private in nature, such as diminution in value of private property, loss of business expenditures and other business and economic losses resulting from MTBE contamination, properly belong to private parties.
The Court remanded for the trial court to resolve the many factual issues that still remain and then to rule on the MTBE defendants' motion for partial summary judgment seeking to prevent the State from recovering various types of damages related to contamination to private wells.