Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/345/295/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:09:40+00:00

Document:
Respondent power company produces electricity in California, partially by hydroelectric projects licensed under Part I of the Federal Power Act, as amended by Title II of the Public Utility Act of 1935, and sells a portion of it to the Navy Department and to a Nevada county for consumption in Nevada. The power is transmitted at high voltage to the company's substation in California, whence it is transmitted over lines owned by the Navy and by the County into Nevada, where it is stepped down for local distribution and consumption. The power sold to the Navy is used largely in official operations at a Navy depot, though part is distributed for private consumption at a nearby Navy housing project. The power sold to the County is practically all resold to local consumers.
Held: the rates for such sales of power for resale are subject to regulation by the Federal Power Commission under Part II of the Federal Power Act. Pp. 345 U. S. 299-318.
1. The Federal Power Commission has jurisdiction under § 201(b) of the Act, which extends "to the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce and to the sale of electric energy at wholesale in interstate commerce," and regulation of the rates of such sales is authorized by §§ 205(a) and 206(a). Pp. 345 U. S. 299-300.
(a) The operations in question are in interstate commerce within the meaning of § 201(b) of the Act, and the fact that the electricity is transmitted across the state boundary over lines owned by the Navy and by the County, as purchasers, is irrelevant. Pp. 345 U. S. 299-300.
(b) The limitation in Part II of the Act that federal regulation shall "extend only to those matters which are not subject to regulation by the States" does not apply to the facts of this case, and § 20 of Part I of the Act does not require a different result. Pp. 345 U. S. 300-311.
(c) Federal rate jurisdiction under Part II is not excluded by the fact that some portion of the power sold originated in hydroelectric projects federally licensed under Part I. P. 345 U. S. 302.
(d) By § 20 of Part I, Congress did not confer on the States jurisdiction over hydroelectric energy transmitted across state lines for resale. Pp. 345 U. S. 303-305.
(e) Congress in § 20 of Part I did not charge the States with the responsibility of regulating rates of interstate sales of electricity through the use of the federal power over government property. P. 345 U. S. 305.
(f) The limitations of § 201(a) on federal regulation cannot, and were not intended to, preserve an exclusive state regulation of wholesale hydroelectric sales across state borders. Pp. 345 U. S. 310-311.
2. The Federal Power Commission has authority over the sales to the County and to the Navy. Pp. 345 U. S. 312-316.
(a) The provision of subsection (c) of § 201 that "sale of electric energy at wholesale" means a sale to any "person" for resale, is not to be construed as excluding sales to a municipality or to the Navy. Pp. 345 U. S. 312-316.
(b) The addition of the word "person" in the definitions in § 201(d) was not intended as a limitation on the jurisdiction of the Commission. P. 345 U. S. 313.
3. The sales here were not exempt from Commission jurisdiction under § 201(b) as sales over "local distribution" facilities, and they were "for resale" though the contracts did not so specify. P. 345 U. S. 316.
4. Whether the Federal Power Commission may exercise rate authority over the entire amount of power sold or merely that which is resold by the Navy is a question which is not ripe for consideration by this Court on the instant record. Pp. 345 U. S. 316-318.
Orders of the California Public Utilities Commission asserted jurisdiction over rates for certain sales of electric power by the respondent power company. 50 Cal.P.U.C. 749; 89 P.U.R.(N.S.) 359. The State Supreme Court denied review, thus affirming the orders. This Court granted certiorari. 344 U.S. 810. Reversed, p. 345 U. S. 318.
and consumption. The Navy's power is used at its ammunition depot, largely in official industrial operations; between 15% and 29%, however, is distributed for consumption in the private households and enterprises of tenants at the Navy's low-cost housing project nearby. These sales are metered individually, and each purchaser is billed according to his own use. The power purchased by the County is all resold to local consumers, with the exception of minor line losses and official use.
Commission's supporting opinion was denied review by the California Supreme Court on January 21, 1952, thus affirming its holding, while that of the Federal Power Commission was likewise approved by the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, California Electric Power Co v. Federal Power Commission, 199 F.2d 206. As a federal question concerning the applicability of Part II of the Act was raised, certiorari was granted, 344 U.S. 810, to bring the record here from the state proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(3).
The preliminary issue as to whether the operations in question fall within the concept of interstate commerce, on which the federal power initially depends, can be shortly disposed of, for Powell v. United States Cartridge Co., 339 U. S. 497, 339 U. S. 509-515, firmly established that commerce includes the transportation of public property, while the irrelevance of the fact that this electricity is transmitted across the state boundary over lines owned by the Navy and by the County, as purchasers, may be seen from Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 319 U. S. 61, 319 U. S. 69, 319 U. S. 71, and Illinois Natural Gas Co. v. Central Illinois Public Service Co., 314 U. S. 498.
"shall enter into interstate or foreign commerce the rates . . . and the service . . . by any . . . licensee . . . or by any person, corporation, or association purchasing power from such licensee for sale and distribution or use in public service shall be reasonable . . . to the customer . . . , and whenever any of the States directly concerned has not provided a commission or other authority to enforce the requirements of this section within such State . . . or such States are unable to agree through their properly constituted authorities on the services . . . or on the rates . . . jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the commission . . . to regulate . . . so much of the services . . . and of the rates . . . therefor as constitute interstate or foreign commerce."
Respondents point to this as satisfying § 20, and thus ousting any Part II regulation. In short, they contend -- what at first blush may appear anomalous -- that federal rate jurisdiction under Part II may be prohibited by the fact that some portion of the power sold originated in hydroelectric projects federally licensed under Part I. We do not agree.
utility regulation to power production licensed under the federal Act.
But there is no evidence that this was done with any firm intent to settled with the states a power essentially national. For whatever views of the draftsmen of § 20 as to the efficacy of state regulation, the jurisdictional lines between local and national authority were not finally determined until this Court's opinion in Public Utilities Commission v. Attleboro Steam & Electric Co., 273 U. S. 83. This decision followed the Federal Water Power Act by some seven years. In short, that case established what has unquestionably become a fixed premise of our constitutional law, but what was not at all clear in 1920 -- that the Commerce Clause forbade state regulation of some utility rates. State power was held not to extend to an interstate sale "in wholesale quantities, not to consumers, but to distributing companies for resale to consumers." 273 U.S. at 273 U. S. 89. Attleboro reiterated and accepted the holding of Pennsylvania Gas Co. v. Public Service Commission, 252 U. S. 23, that sales across the state line direct to consumers is a local matter within the authority of the agency of the importing state. But it prohibited regulation of wholesale sales for resale by either interested commission.
Respondents seek to escape that doctrine, however, by pointing to the fact that there was not there involved sales of electricity produced at a project licensed under Part I. They admit that, absent § 20 of that Part, the later Part II authority would apply exclusively and determine the result. But, they say, § 20 creates an exception, which the language of Attleboro did not reach, for hydroelectric energy transmitted across state lines under the aegis of coordinated state regulation. In short, it is alleged that § 20 "conferred jurisdiction" on the states.
states to empower their regulatory agencies or their inability to agree.
power electricity as Part I, § 20, provides can be held to block the general authority of Part II. See note 13 infra.
declaration of "policy," and the rewording which gave it its present more succinct form was unaccompanied by any "mention [of] this change as one of substance." Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 319 U. S. 61, 319 U. S. 77, referring to H.R.Rep.No.1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 26.
"It cannot nullify a clear and specific grant of jurisdiction, even if the particular grant seems inconsistent with the broadly expressed purpose."
Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 324 U. S. 515, 324 U. S. 527. To conceive of it now as a benchmark of the Commission's power, or an affirmation of state authority over any interstate sales for resale, would be to speculate about a congressional purpose for which there is no support.
"The term 'sale of electric energy at wholesale,' when used in this Part, means a sale of electric energy to any person for resale."
And § 3(4) [Footnote 20] equates "person" with "individual or a corporation," while § 3(3) [Footnote 21] excludes municipalities defined in § 3(7) [Footnote 22] from the scope of the latter term. So respondents argue that the sales to Mineral County are neatly and decisively excluded from Part II rate regulation.
County would thwart the premise of these provisions: that such political subdivisions of the states can be aggrieved by the failure of a public utility selling power to them to satisfy the requirements of Part II.
the dignity of an agency "policy." [Footnote 25] We have often stated our sympathy with established administrative interpretations such as this. Cf. United States v. American Trucking Assns., 310 U. S. 534, 310 U. S. 549.
Union v. Juneau Spruce Corp., 342 U. S. 237, 342 U. S. 243; Johansen v. United States, 343 U. S. 427, 343 U. S. 432. So here, since it is our judgment that neither the legislative aim nor the realities of coordinated rate regulation compel it, we reject respondents' plea that the Federal Power Commission can exercise no authority over sales to Mineral County, and, for similar reasons, the Company's contention in No. 205 that the sales to the Navy are not sales to a "person."
The claim that the sales here occurred over "local distribution" facilities, § 201(b), and were not "for resale" because the contracts did not state as much, are insubstantial. The sales were made in California, but the facilities supplied "local distribution" only after the current was subdivided for individual consumers. [Footnote 26] But a final question -- whether the Federal Power Commission may exercise rate authority over the entire amount of power sold or merely that which is resold by the Navy and the County -- requires rather more extended discussion.
the problem as thus stated and that decided in Pennsylvania Water & Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 343 U. S. 414, 343 U. S. 419. [Footnote 27] We held there that the federal rate authority must apply to all electricity sold, despite the fact that it was made up of power transmitted across state lines, as well as that produced locally. The impossibility of separating interstate from intrastate electricity consumed by each purchaser is patent. In such a case, federal rate jurisdiction must attach to each distributor's negotiated agreement with the seller irrespective of occasional and unpredictable use of nonjurisdictional intrastate power.
whether an essentially separate transaction covering the power directly consumed by the purchaser is identifiable. The present record will not permit such a finding. It may be that, as an engineering proposition, accurate measurement of the volume resold and the volume directly consumed by the two parties is possible for each billing period. But there is no record evidence of separate rates, separate negotiations, separate contracts, or separate rate regulation by official bodies -- in short, that the "sales" themselves were separate -- and it is in these terms that the Act would require us to fix the limits of the jurisdictional grant. [Footnote 28] The attention of the Commission was not directed towards this matter. The question will not be ripe for our consideration until the California Commission has had an opportunity to perfect the record and to consider the problem.
* Together with No. 206, County of Mineral, Nevada v. Public Utilities Commission of California et al., also on certiorari to the same court.
California Electric Power Co., 50 Cal.P.U.C. 749, and California Electric Power Co., 89 P.U.R.(N.S.) 359, respectively.
There was some doubt as to the effect of the apparently conflicting orders, reflecting on the wisdom of our exercise of the power to review. The respondents contend that the state order merely permitted, but did not require, application of the higher rates to the Navy and County sales. The distinction, whatever its abstract attraction, misses the point that we are here considering -- whether or not the state agency had jurisdiction at the outset to consider these rates at all. That the order would have no concrete effect on the prices petitioners must pay is irrelevant, and unlikely as well.
The Federal Power Commission merely ordered the Company to cease charging other than filed rates, and so, while constituting a determinative assertion of its jurisdiction, apparently does not foreclose the submission of a new schedule, with usual ratemaking procedures before the federal body. 18 CFR §§ 35.3, 35.5, 35.20.
"All rates and charges made, demanded, or received by any public utility for or in connection with the transmission or sale of electric energy subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, and all rules and regulations affecting or pertaining to such rates or charges shall be just and reasonable."
"It is hereby declared that the business of transmitting and selling electric energy . . . is affected with a public interest, and that Federal regulation of matters relating to . . . the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce and the sale of such energy at wholesale in interstate commerce is necessary in the public interest, such Federal regulation, however, to extend only to those matters which are not subject to regulation by the States."
"deprive a State or State Commission of its lawful authority now exercised over the exportation of hydroelectric energy which is transmitted across a State line."
The provision certainly does not go beyond that of § 201(a), noted in the opinion in limiting federal authority. This is true not only because of the substantial similarity of the language, but also because it appears not to have been drafted with state rate regulation in mind. Rather, 79 Cong.Rec. 10527, indicates that the provision was intended to preserve the validity of certain state statutes prohibiting or regulating the volume of state power exported. Compare S. 2796, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., as introduced, § 201(b), and idem as reported in the House, Union Calendar No. 451, § 201(b). It has been so construed. Safe Harbor Water Power Corp., 5 F.P.C. 221, 235.
Section 20's reference to state agreement has never been wholly clear. See footnotes 13 16 and | 16 and S. 295fn19|>19, infra. Our opinion, Pennsylvania Water & Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 343 U. S. 414, did not settle the issue, and it has been judicially discussed only rarely.
Hearings, House Committee on Water Power, 65th Cong., 2d Sess. 65.
It was, of course, more than historical accident that caused the simultaneous passage of the Public Utility Holding Company Act and the Federal Power Act; in fact, their mutual consideration by the 79th Congress, 1st Sess., see 79 Cong.Rec. passim, strikingly indicates Congress' realization that state regulation had failed, both because of the giantism of the holding company and because of inability to reach interstate sales. See Davis, Influence of Federal Trade Commission's Investigations, 14 Geo.Wash.L.Rev. 21.
See Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U. S. 100; Adams Express Co. v. Kentucky, 238 U. S. 190; Rosenberger v. Pacific Express Co., 241 U. S. 48; James Clark Distilling Co. v. Western Maryland R. Co., 242 U. S. 311; Whitfield v. Ohio, 297 U. S. 431; Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. Illinois Central R. Co., 299 U. S. 334, 299 U. S. 350.
Compare the Wilson Act, 26 Stat. 313 (alcoholic beverages), the Webb-Kenyon Act, 37 Stat. 699, 27 U.S.C. § 122 (same); 32 Stat. 193 (oleomargarine); the Reed Amendment to the National Appropriation Act of 1917, 39 Stat. 1069 (alcoholic beverages); the Hawes-Cooper Act, 45 Stat. 1084, 49 U.S.C. § 60, and the Ashurst-Sumners Act, 49 Stat. 494, 18 U.S.C. § 1761, 1762 (convict-made goods).
Hearings, House Committee on Water Power, 65th Cong., 2d Sess. 62-66, 95-97, is most illuminating in this regard. O. C. Merrill presented the views of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Interior, and War. He discussed at some length the problem of sales across state lines, and suggested that the proposed § 20 solution was desirable. It left regulation to the interested states "if they do it, and they are doing it now." Id. at 97.
"The intention of the draft was this: that, insofar as the local authorities have the power and exercise it, over rates and service the Federal Commission should leave it alone."
"I do not know whether the question has even come before the courts as to whether such business is or is not interstate commerce, within the meaning of the commerce clause of the Constitution, so that exclusive jurisdiction would be vested in the Federal Government, if it wished to exercise it."
Mr. Doremus: "It might be a power which Congress could exercise, or, if it failed to exercise it, could be left in the jurisdiction of the state." Mr. Merrill: "It is my judgment that, so long as it is satisfactorily handled by the several states it had better be left with them." Id. at 97.
"abridge the jurisdiction or authority of any State to regulate, to the same extent as if this Act had not been passed, the rates and charges for the sale to consumers within the any power transmitted in interstate commerce,"
unless a "substantial number" of those consumers sought federal regulation.
Hearings, Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce on S.Res. 80, 71st Cong., 2d Sess. 265.
In cases of interstate and foreign commerce of the character illustrated in the Pennsylvania Gas Co. case (direct sales to consumers), supra, I [the Chief Counsel of the Commission; the Commission approved the statement as its own Decision February 28, 1929] am of the opinion that the Federal Power Commission has no jurisdiction over any matter for the regulation of which the State has already provided a commission with the requisite authority. This appears to be the very situation which Congress had in mind when it conferred a conditional jurisdiction upon the commission. If such a state commission does not exist, the jurisdiction of the Federal Power Commission applies in full. If the State has a commission with authority over a part only of the matters specified in section 20, the jurisdiction of the Federal Power Commission extends to the remainder of such matters.
"In cases of interstate and foreign commerce of the character illustrated in the Attleboro case, supra, it seems clear that the States individually have no jurisdiction at all; that, having no individual jurisdiction, they cannot acquire it jointly by agreements between themselves except by specific authorization of Congress in the matter hereinafter discussed, and that, in absence of such authorization, the only agency with authority to regulate, in cases of this kind, the specific matters set forth in section 20 is the Federal Power Commission."
The Report went on to state that § 20 could not be interpreted as a "permissive" statute. Id., 127-129. The "compact" interpretation of § 20 was adopted in Safe Harbor Water Power Corp. v. Federal Power Commission, 124 F.2d 800.
The conception of the Federal Commission's new function was perhaps more revolutionary than could be gathered by merely comparing the new Act with § 20. For it appears that, despite the latter provision for limited rate regulation, in fact, substantially nothing in that direction had been attempted, at least by 1930. Hearings, Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce on S.Res. 80, 71st Cong., 2d Sess. 79, 262. The Commission had only three accountants, all of whom were concerned with evaluation of proposed licensed hydroelectric projects. Id., 38.
In fact, Colonel Tyler, Chief Engineer, Federal Power Commission, expressly alluded to the fact that, for federal authority to be effective, it would have to reach all interstate electricity, and not just that which is produced at licensed dams. Id. at 195. Here, of course, respondents theorize that a small admixture of hydroelectric power will defeat federal jurisdiction.
In fact, the House Report on the bill, commenting on § 305 of the Act, stated that specific reference to officials of licensees had been deleted because "such licensees, when interstate operating public utility companies, will be subject to the provisions of the section in any event." H.R.Rep.No.1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 31.
For general discussion of the scope of Part II, see Hearings, Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce on S. 1725, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 250-251; H.R.Rep.No.1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 26-27; Hearings, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., on H.R. 5423, pp. 436, 521-530, 549, 1639, 1677-1680, 2143, 2169; H.R.Rep.No.1903, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 74; 79 Cong.Rec. 8431, 8442, 8444, 10377-10378.
"[T]his language [the § 201(a) proviso clause] is not pertinent in the instant controversy, for it is designed to be applicable only to electric energy transmitted and sold in intrastate commerce. The control of rates referred to in the section is control by a single State, and the language has no relation to possible joint control by two or more States under the compact clause of the Constitution."
Safe Harbor Water Power Corp. v. Federal Power Commission, 179 F.2d 179, 187. See also Hartford Electric Light Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 131 F.2d 953; Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 129 F.2d 183.
Scott, Control of Power Transmission, 14 Proc. of Acad. of Pol.Sci. 135, followed by Note, 32 Col.L.Rev. 1171, admit the force of Attleboro, but cite § 20 as a permissive regulation statute. On the other hand, Arneson, Federal Regulation of Electric Utilities, 66 U.S.L.Rev. 133, and Updegraff, Extension of Federal Regulation of Public Utilities, 13 Iowa L.Rev. 369, hold that the states' power to regulate rates of sales for resale in interstate commerce was completely wiped out.
Actually, an exception to federal commission authority for power generated at licensed hydroelectric projects would have had little real significance in 1935, in terms of limiting resort to that authority. Forty percent of the Nation's electric energy was produced at hydroelectric projects. F.P.C. Electric Power Statistics, 1920-1940, pp. VIII-IX. But only 12.3% of the total production came from licensed sources, which had merely 7.8% of the total national capacity. (Letter from Leon Fuquay, Secretary, Federal Power Commission, to Edward G. Hudson, Assistant Librarian, United States Supreme Court, March 16, 1953.) It would have been curious for Congress to have approved a very special type of regulatory scheme for such a minimal fraction of the country's total power.
Safe Harbor Water Power Corp., 5 F.P.C. 221, 239-243. See also 18 CFR §§ 35.3, 35.20.
In view of our holding that § 20 does not, of itself, confer jurisdiction on the state commission or commissions in this case, we need not discuss the much-briefed contention that its conditions have been met. See, however, Safe Harbor Water Power Corp. v. Federal Power Commission, 124 F.2d 800; Id. 179 F.2d 179; Pennsylvania Water & Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 343 U. S. 414, and notes 13 and | 13 and S. 295fn16|>16, supra.
"Person' means an individual or a corporation." § 3(4).
"'Corporation' means any corporation, joint-stock company, partnership, association, business trust, organized group of persons, whether incorporated or not, or a receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees of any of the foregoing. It shall not include 'municipalities' as hereinafter defined."
"'Municipality' means a city, county, irrigation district, drainage district, or other political subdivision or agency of a State competent under the laws thereof to carry on the business of developing, transmitting, utilizing, or distributing power."
"Mr. DEVANE: [The Act] does not apply to a publicly owned power plant."
"Senator HASTINGS: Why was it drawn that way?"
"Mr. DEVANE: We did not feel that it was within our province to prepare a bill that would undertake to regulate municipal, State, or Government utilities."
Hearings, Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on S. 1725, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 256.
"Mr. PETTINGILL: Mr. Commissioner, you just said a moment ago that, as you construed the bill, a private power line could not be required to carry electric energy generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority or a municipal plant owned by a city, or a State; is that correct?"
"Commissioner SEAVEY: Yes; that is my understanding of the bill."
"Mr. PETTINGILL: Because, as you said, the word 'person' does not include a municipality or a governmental body?"
"Commissioner SEAVEY: I think that municipalities are particularly excluded, and it is my belief that any other Federal agency, any other governmental agency, would be excluded under the terms of the bill."
"Mr. PETTINGILL: Now then, suppose that a municipality acquires by purchase, and of the common stock of a corporation, privately organized, so that the municipality is actually the owner of the power plant, although it was organized privately, as a private corporation. After that was done, could the private power plant competing in the same locality be required to carry the electric energy generated by the plant owned by the municipality, or State, or the nation?"
"Commissioner SEAVEY: If it was controlled by the municipality and was subject wholly to municipal operations, I would say no, there it not be [sic]."
Hearings before House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, on H.R. 5423, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. 397-398.
California Electric Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 199 F.2d 206; Wisconsin v. Federal Power Commission, 91 U.S.App.D.C. 307, 201 F.2d 183, and Wisconsin-Michigan Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 197 F.2d 472.
Kansas Gas & Electric Co., 1 F.P.C. 536; Otter Tail Power Co., 2 F.P.C. 134; Los Angeles v. Nevada-California Electric Corp., 2 F.P.C. 104; Connecticut Light & Power Co., 3 F.P.C. 132; Baum, The Federal Power Commission, 61-62. See the criticism of the § 201(a) phrase as meaninglessly ambiguous, Hartford Electric Light Co., 2 F.P.C. 359, and Northwestern Power Co., 2 F.P.C. 327.
The Company has cited a brief by the Commission in another case with some force, as indicating that heretofore it has claimed that the United States is excluded from the Act by virtue of not being a "person." Respondent's brief, United States ex rel. Chapman v. Federal Power Commission, 191 F.2d 796. We note, though, that the contention there was made in regard to the application of § 313(a), that "No proceeding to review any order of the Commission shall be brought by any person unless such person" has applied to the Commission for a rehearing. The Court, however, chose to ignore the point, and rather held that the Secretary of Interior could not petition for review in that case since he was not a "party aggrieved," § 313(b). 191 F.2d at 799-800. On certiorari here, the Commission failed to press the "person" argument again, relying solely on the argument that petitioner, as a representative of federal interests was not "aggrieved" by the Commission's order in support of its contention of lack of standing. Br. F.P.C.Nos. 28 and 29, 1952 Term, pp. 95-128. We did not consider the matter in our opinion. United States ex rel. Champman v. Federal Power Commission, 345 U. S. 153, 345 U. S. 156.
See East Ohio Gas Co. v. Tax Commission of Ohio, 283 U. S. 465; Federal Power Commission v. East Ohio Gas Co., 338 U. S. 464, 338 U. S. 469.
See California Electric Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 199 F.2d 206, 209.
The Ninth Circuit, in California Electric Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, No. 495, now pending before us on a petition for certiorari, 199 F.2d 206, with the more complete record before it from the Power Commission, held that Penn Water controlled. We do not decide the question, but rather note that the Commission's own view of the matter may still be in the formative stage. See Colorado Interstate Gas Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 185 F.2d 357; City of Hastings v. Kansas-Nebraska Natural Gas Co., 12 F.P.C. 3, 98 P.U.R. (N.S.) 1.
with the Ninth Circuit for the reasons it gave, and consequently concur here in reversal of the Supreme Court of California's contrary holding.
I should concur in this result more readily if the Court could reach it by analysis of the statute, instead of by psychoanalysis of Congress. When we decide from legislative history, including statements of witnesses at hearings, what Congress probably had in mind, we must put ourselves in the place of a majority of Congressmen and act according to the impression we think this history should have made on them. Never having been a Congressman, I am handicapped in that weird endeavor. That process seems to me not interpretation of a statute, but creation of a statute.
the material from the Harvard Law School Library, but it advised that "our rules do not permit this kind of material to be sent out on loan."
Today's decision marks a regression from this modern tendency. It pulls federal law not only out of the dark where it has been hidden, but into a fog in which little can be seen if found. Legislative history here, as usual, is more vague than the statute we are called upon to interpret.
in the past. I therefore concur in the interpretation unanimously approved by the members of the Court who have had legislative experience.
* This history is set out in more detail in Jackson, Struggle for Judicial Supremacy, pp. 89-91.
The light shed by MR. JUSTICE JACKSON on the underpinning of the Court's opinion makes me unwilling to share responsibility for a decision resting on such underpinning. It is one thing to construe a section of a comprehensive statute in the context of its general scheme, as that scheme is indicated, by its terms, and by the gloss of those authorized to speak for Congress, either through reports or statements on the floor. It is a very different thing to extrapolate meaning from surmises and speculation and free-wheeling utterances, especially to do so in disregard of the terms in which Congress has chosen to express its purpose.
Were I confined to the mere text of the legislation we have to construe, with such authoritative elucidation as obviously relevant legislative materials furnish, I would be compelled to find the considerations for fusing, as the Court does, the amended Federal Water Power Act of 1920, 41 Stat. 1063, with Part II of the Federal Power Act of 1935, 49 Stat. 838, 847, too tenuous. In saying this I am wholly mindful of the significance of the decision in Public Utilities Commission v. Attleboro Steam & Electric Co., 273 U. S. 83. Preoccupation with other matters pending before the Court precludes an independent pursuit by me of all the tributaries in search of legislative purpose that the Court has followed. I am therefore constrained to leave the decision of this case to those who have no doubts about the matter.

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