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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 381 › FPC v. Union Electric Co.
Federal Power Commission v. Union Electric Co.
Respondent filed a declaration of intention with the Federal Power Commission (FPC) pursuant to § 23(b) of the Federal Power Act to construct a pumped storage plant on a nonnavigable tributary of a navigable stream. A pumped storage plant uses power during periods of non-peak demands to pump water to an upper pool to be used to generate peak period energy by water falling into a lower pool. The FPC found that the nonnavigable tributary is a stream over which Congress has jurisdiction, as it is a headwater of a navigable river system. The FPC held that the project would require a license under § 23(b) because it would use water power for the interstate transmission of electricity and because it would affect downstream navigability. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the only relevant "commerce" under § 23(b) is that on the downstream navigable waterway, and that the project would have no significant impact on water commerce.
1. The commerce power of Congress clearly encompasses the interstate transmission of electric energy, and the project here is within the purview of that power, without regard to federal control of tributary streams and navigation. P. 381 U. S. 94.
2. The language of the licensing requirement of § 23(b) invokes the full congressional authority over commerce, and not merely the regulation of navigation or water commerce. Pp. 381 U. S. 95-98.
3. The purposes of the predecessor statute, the Federal Water Power Act, which included the comprehensive development of water power and hydroelectric energy, are more fully served by considering the impact of the project on the full range of commerce interests. Pp. 381 U. S. 98-109.
which Congress has jurisdiction, while similar hydroelectric facilities are covered by § 23(b). Pp. 381 U. S. 109-110.
Section 23(b) [Footnote 1] of the Federal Power Act [Footnote 2] requires any person desiring to construct a dam or other project on a nonnavigable stream, but one over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce, to file a declaration of intention with the Federal Power Commission. If the Commission finds that "the interests of interstate or foreign commerce would be affected by such proposed construction," the declarant may not construct or operate the project without a license. The issue here is whether the construction of a pumped storage hydroelectric project generating energy for interstate transmission is one which would affect the "interests of interstate or foreign commerce" within the intendment of the Act.
of creating up to 350 megawatts, and the energy created will be utilized in Missouri, Illinois, and possibly Iowa. Taum Sauk is to be located on the East Fork of the Black River, about four miles above the confluence of these waters. [Footnote 5] The East Fork is a nonnavigable tributary of the Black River, itself a navigable stream along with the White River into which it flows.
effect on downstream navigability, or on irrigation development, flood control projects or planned utilization of water resources, matters which might affect the interests of water commerce, a water power project located on the headwaters of a navigable river is a "local" activity beyond the licensing power and consequent regulatory controls of the FPC. Because the question is an unresolved one of jurisdiction over an important class of hydroelectric projects, we granted certiorari, 379 U.S. 812, and now reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals. We have determined that its limitation of the FPC's licensing power to projects affecting commerce on navigable waters is founded upon an erroneous reading of the language of § 23(b) and the design and purposes of the Federal Water Power Act.
Trailer Co., 301 U. S. 49; Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Labor Board, 305 U. S. 197; Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U. S. 294, 379 U. S. 301-304. But see United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 107 F.2d 769, rev'd on other grounds, 311 U. S. 311 U.S. 377. [Footnote 7] Thus, there are no constitutional doubts or barriers to the FPC's interpretation. The only question is whether Congress has required a license for a water power project utilizing the headwaters of a navigable river to generate energy for an interstate power system. We think an affirmative answer is required by both the language and purposes of the Act.
prohibits construction of nonlicensed hydroelectric projects on navigable streams, regardless of any effect, detrimental or beneficial, on navigation or commerce by water and requires those proposing a project on a nonnavigable stream to file a declaration of intention and to come before the Commission for a determination of whether the "interests of interstate or foreign commerce would be affected," a determination which obviously does not speak in terms of the interests of navigation or water commerce. Plainly, the provision does not require a license only where "the interests of interstate or foreign commerce on navigable waters would be affected." Although transportation on interstate waterways is interstate commerce, the phrase "affect the interests of commerce" on its face hardly supports any claim that Congress sought to regulate only such transportation. Rather, it strongly implies that Congress drew upon its full authority under the Commerce Clause, including but not limited to its power over water commerce.
"[H]alf a dozen enactments, other than the National Labor Relations Act, are sufficient to illustrate that, when [Congress] wants to bring aspects of commerce within the full sweep of its constitutional authority, it manifests its purpose by regulating not only 'commerce,' but also matters which 'affect', 'interrupt,' or 'promote' interstate commerce. . . . In so describing the range of its control, Congress is not indulging stylistic preferences."
Polish National Alliance v. Labor Board, 322 U. S. 643, 322 U. S. 647.
Turning to the purposes of the Federal Water Power Act, enacted in 1920, we find nothing which cases serious doubt upon our reading of § 23(b) or which indicates that the Commission was to restrict its considerations under § 23(b) to effect on navigability. There is much to indicate the contrary.
"was the outgrowth of a widely supported effort of the conservationists to secure enactment of a complete scheme of national regulation which would promote the comprehensive development of the water resources of the Nation, insofar as it was within the reach of the federal power to do so. . . ."
"be such as in the judgment of the Commission will be best adapted to a comprehensive plan for improving or developing a waterway or waterways for the use or benefit of interstate or foreign commerce, for the improvement and utilization of water power development, and for other beneficial public uses. . . . [Footnote 14]"
If the comprehensive development of water power, "insofar as it was within the reach of the federal power to do so," First Iowa Hydro-Electric Coop. v. Federal Power Comm'n, 328 U.S. at 328 U. S. 180, was the central thrust of the Act, there is obviously little merit to the argument that § 23(b) requires a license when the interests of water commerce are affected, but dispenses with the license when other commerce interests are vitally involved. The purposes of the Act are more fully served if the Commission must, as it held in this case, consider the impact of the project on the full spectrum of commerce interests.
authority of Congress over navigation, that Congress invoked only this power, and no other, and that § 23(b) accordingly provides for no greater control over projects on nonnavigable streams than is necessary to protect downstream navigability. On these matters, it is said, both conservations and opponents of the Act agreed. Moreover, the argument continues, the limited reach of § 23(b) is confined by the repeated references to navigation and to congressional power over it in the course of committee hearings and reports on the 1935 amendments to the Act.
over these issues understandably constitute a considerable part of the context in which the Act was enacted.
But conservationists and opponents seemed to agree that the Act embodied the full measure of Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate hydroelectric projects. [Footnote 26] And there is no evidence that the sponsors of the Act, who prevailed in securing its enactment in the broad terms they drafted, intended a construction of interstate or foreign commerce narrower than their constitutional counterparts. In the face of numerous objections to this exercise of federal authority, we find it of compelling significance that the Congress adopted comprehensive language and refrained from writing any limitation or reference to navigation into § 23(b).
"every person intending to construct a project which might affect navigation would be required to come to the Commission for a determination of the interests of the United States."
46-47. Such statements clearly refer to the filing requirement of § 23(b), which was the subject of the committee amendment. Only persons constructing projects on nonnavigable feeders of navigable waters need file a declaration of intention. The committee statements are thus quite accurate in this respect, but they do not illuminate the licensing provision of § 23(b), as distinct from its filing requirement, nor do they resolve the issue of which projects among those which might affect navigation are required to be licensed. They do not, explicitly or implicitly, exempt from licensing those projects having no effect on navigation. The reports do not equate the "interests of commerce" with those of water transportation.
It is true that there are no express references in the reports or the debates to other aspects of the commerce power in connection with § 23(b), but the reports reflect the same broad intent as the earlier deliberations to secure federal control over all water power projects involving the utilization of the Nation's river systems.
"The act would be greatly strengthened by enabling the Commission to preserve control over all projects with which the Federal Government has any valid concern."
Nor can we ignore the actual effect of the filing requirement added in 1935. The applicable provision prior to this amendment, § 9 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, 30 Stat. 1151, forbidding obstructions to navigation, was adequate to insure that projects with a substantial effect on downstream navigability would be brought before the Commission. Persons intending to construct a project which would likely have no such effect, such as some pure pumped storage installations, could decline to file a declaration of intention with impunity. Thus, the 1935 amendment made a difference principally in regard to projects which predictably have little, if any, effect on navigation, but a significant effect on interstate commerce. Respondent would have us assume this difference was not intended, although both the Committees stated that the amendment would enable "the Commission to preserve control over all projects with which the Federal Government has any valid concern." S.Rep.No. 621, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 47; H.R.Rep. No. 1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 26. In light of the necessary purport of this amendment and the breadth of the federal interest in hydroelectric projects expressed in the 1920 Act, the preoccupation of the Commission and the committees with navigation, while not without significance, does not overcome the clear import of the language and the purposes of the Act.
"[t]he Commission's jurisdiction . . . must logically rest upon its delegated congressional jurisdiction over the interests of commerce on navigable waters."
49 Stat. 838, 846, 16 U.S.C. § 817 (1958 ed.).
The Federal Power Act was originally enacted in 1920 as the Federal Water Power Act, 41 Stat. 1063. The original Act was amended by Title II of the Public Utility Act of 1935, 49 Stat. 838, 16 U.S.C. §§ 791-823 (1958 ed.), and made Part I of the Federal Power Act. Parts II and III, dealing with regulation of electric utility companies, were added. To distinguish the original Federal Water Power Act, which was kept largely intact, from Parts II and III, Part I will be referred to in this opinion under its original title.
A pumped storage facility may be likened to a large storage battery, taking electric energy from other sources, usually steam-electric plants, during some hours of the day, and supplying energy to an integrated system during other hours. The water in the upper pool may thus be regarded as the equivalent of stored electric energy. Pumped storage installations fall into two categories, those in which pumped storage facilities are added to a conventional hydro installation, and those which are exclusively pumped storage, generating power solely by circulating water between a lower and higher reservoir. Within these categories, pumped storage installations vary widely in design and mode of operation. F.P.C., 1964 National Power Survey, Part I, 120-124. Existing combined pumped storage hydroelectric projects include Rocky River, Conn. (1929); Buchanan, Tex. (1950); Flatiron, Colo. (1954); Hiwassee, N.C. (1956); and Lewiston, N.Y. (1961). The pure pumped storage installations are of more recent vintage, with the following projects planned or recently constructed: Yards Creek, N.J.; Cabin Creek, Colo.; Muddy Run, Pa.; Ludington, Mich.; Cornwall, N.Y.; and the Taum Sauk project. See id. at 122-123.
At Taum Sauk, the upper reservoir is a 32-acre pool constructed atop a mountain, at about 1,500 feet above sea level, and the lower reservoir, impounded by a 60-foot dam, covers about 370 acres and has a usable storage capacity of 4,350 acre-feet of water. The two are connected by a pressure tunnel and conduit, with a pumping and generating station on an open channel running to the lower pool.
During normal stream flows and normal operations of the project, there would be no increase or decrease of the natural stage or flow of waters below the dam. In the event of malfunction or abnormal flows, the project might affect the level of both the East Fork and Black River.
The trial examiner found that the Taum Sauk project would affect the navigable capacity of the Black River. Although the Commission directed most of its opinion to the issue of whether the project affected the interests of commerce because a substantial part of its power is transmitted in interstate commerce, it concurred in the examiner's finding that the project may, under certain conditions, affect the navigability of the Black River. The Court of Appeals reversed the latter holding on the ground that the finding was not supported by substantial evidence. The question presented in the petition for certiorari was whether the generation of energy for interstate transmission was a sufficient basis for requiring a license, although the Commission reserved in a footnote the right to argue the correctness of the alternative holding. We do not determine whether this issue is properly here, or decide whether there is substantial evidence to support a finding of effect on navigability; our discussion proceeds on the assumption that the Court of Appeals was correct in determining that there was not.
Utah Power & Light Co. v. Pfost, 286 U. S. 165, cited by the Court of Appeals, is not opposed. The Court there held that a State had power to impose a tax on a company generating electric energy for distribution in interstate commerce. This, of course, does not control the commerce powers of Congress. Cf. Consolidated Edison Co. v. Labor Board, 305 U. S. 197; Polish Alliance v. Labor Board, 322 U. S. 643, 322 U. S. 649: "[F]ederal regulation does not preclude state taxation, and state taxation does not preclude federal regulation."
"It shall be unlawful for any person . . . for the purpose of developing electric power, to construct, operate, or maintain any dam, water conduit, reservoir, power house, or other works incidental thereto across, along, or in any of the navigable waters of the United States, or upon any part of the public lands or reservations of the United States (including the Territories), or utilize the surplus water or water power from any Government dam, except under and in accordance with . . . a license granted pursuant to this Act. Any person . . . intending to construct a dam or other project works across, along, over, or in any stream or part thereof, other than those defined herein as navigable waters, and over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States shall before such construction file declaration of such intention with the Commission, whereupon the Commission shall cause immediate investigation of such proposed construction to be made, and if upon investigation it shall find that the interests of interstate or foreign commerce would be affected by such proposed construction, such person . . . shall not construct, maintain, or operate such dam or other project works until it shall have applied for and shall have received a license under the provisions of this Act. If the Commission shall not so find, and if no public lands or reservations are affected, permission is hereby granted to construct such dam or other project works in such stream upon compliance with State laws."
To be sure, the requirement that the project be on a stream over which Congress has jurisdiction delimits the cases in which the Commission need inquire into the project's effect on commerce, leaving the theoretical possibility that some projects affecting commerce need not be licensed because they are located on waters beyond cognizance under the Commerce Clause. But it has not been shown that this possibility is anything more than theoretical. To the extent there are such projects, there is nothing inconsistent between a narrow exemption for projects located on intrastate nonnavigable waters which do not flow into any navigable streams and an intent to reach all projects affecting commerce generally when located on the more typical stream.
Respondent also underscores the statutory directive requiring determination of whether the "proposed construction" of the dam or project works would affect commerce, and urges that the use of this term indicates the provision refers to effect on navigation. Whether inquiry be limited to such effects or extend to matters affecting the interests of commerce generally, an intelligible determination perforce entails consideration of the nature of the project, its intended use, and its mode of operation, and not only that of the physical construction. Further, the statute provides that, upon finding that the project will have an effect on commerce, the declarant "shall not construct, maintain, or operate such dam or other project works" without a license.
H.R.Rep. No. 61, 66th Cong., 1st Sess.; 58 Cong.Rec. 1932, 1936-1940; 59 Cong. Rec. 241, 1039-1042, 1173-1174. See also 42 Cong.Rec. 6968; S.Doc. No. 325, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., 25.
"We are now at the beginning of great development in water power. Its use through electrical transmission is entering more and more largely into every element of the daily life of the people. Already the evils of monopoly are becoming manifest; already the experience of the past shows the necessity of caution in making unrestricted grants of this great power."
"It should also be the duty of some designated official to see to it that in approving the plans the maximum development of the navigation and power is assured, or at least that in making the plans these may not be so developed as ultimately to interfere with the better utilization of the water or complete development of the power."
The history of the movement and its objectives are well recounted in Kerwin, Federal Water Power Legislation 105-293 (hereafter Kerwin); Pinchot, The Long Struggle for Effective Federal Water Power Legislation, 14 Geo.Wash.L.Rev. 9 (1945).
26 Stat. 453, 454; 30 Stat. 1121, 1151; 33 U.S.C. §§ 401, 403 (1958 ed.).
"The increasing need of power, resulting through our participation in the war and growing shortage in certain sections of our coal and oil supply, compelled attention to the urgency of immediate and comprehensive water-power legislation. . . . [T]he need for legislation for the development of hydroelectric power at the present time is clearly set forth by Secretary Houston in a recent report."
H.R.Rep. No. 61, 66th Cong., 1st Sess., 4.
"If, 10 years ago, instead of enacting restrictive laws which have prohibited development of our waters powers, Congress had invited their development through fair and reasonable terms, the beginning of the World War would have found the United States with 20,000,000 developed hydroelectric power instead of 5,000,000. . . ."
"The necessity for the development of our water power is of paramount importance to the people of the United States, and Congress should enact a law without further delay. . . ."
59 Cong.Rec. 241, 244 (remarks of Senator Jones in introducing the bill). See also 59 Cong.Rec. 1222-1224, 1039, 1042, 1048; S.Rep. No. 180, 66th Cong., 1st Sess.
49 Stat. 842, 16 U.S.C. § 803(a) (1958 ed.).
These conditions require that the project shall be maintained in good repair and operated in the interests of navigation, amortization reserves shall be maintained after the twentieth year of operation out of any excess return on net investment, annual charges shall be paid to the United States, excessive profits, unregulated by state authority, shall be expropriated to the United States, § 10, 49 Stat. 842, 16 U.S.C. §§ 803(b), (c), (d), (e) (1958 ed.), and rates and services for energy, absent state regulation, shall be reasonable and adequate, § 19, 41 Stat. 1073, 16 U.S.C. § 812 (1958 ed.). Under § 14, 49 Stat. 844, 16 U.S.C. § 807 (1958 ed.), the United States may recapture any project after expiration of the license, upon payment of the net investment in the property.
§ 3(8), 49 Stat. 838, 16 U.S.C. § 796(8) (1958 ed.).
§ 4(e), 49 Stat. 840, 16 U.S.C. § 797(e) (1958 ed.).
Earlier versions of the Act would have defined "navigable waters" to include only such streams or parts thereof which, in their ordinary natural condition, are used for the transportation of persons and property in interstate commerce or which, through improvements, shall become usable in such commerce. S. 1419, 65th Cong., 1st Sess.; H.R. 3184, 66th Cong., 1st Sess. The conservationists noted that this definition excluded falls, shallows and rapids, thought to be rather valuable sites for hydroelectric projects. 57 Cong.Rec. 4638. A filibuster in the closing hours of the session in 1919 prevented enactment of S. 1419, Kerwin 253-254, and the definition of navigation in H.R. 3184 was amended by the Senate Commerce Committee to include interrupting falls and shallows and rapids as well as streams cited for improvement. S.Rep. No. 180, 66th Cong. 1st Sess.
See, e.g., 59 Cong.Rec. 1041-1042, 1430-1432, 1472, 6529-6531, 6536, 7723-7729.
These objections may be found in the debates on the earlier versions of water power legislation, notwithstanding that "navigable waters" in these bills was more narrowly defined and permission to construct a project on a nonnavigable stream was granted. Earlier bills include S. 1419, 65th Cong.1st Sess.; H.R. 3184, 66th Cong., 1st Sess. See 56 Cong.Rec. 8917, 9038; 57 Cong.Rec. 4638; 58 Cong.Rec. 2032.
"Stripped of its covering, the proposal relates not to commerce between the States or with foreign nations, but it authorizes a commission to issue licenses to corporations and to individuals to build dams and to erect power houses for the generation of electricity for industrial purposes. And in this purpose may be found the explanation of the strained effort to enlarge the definition of 'navigable waters' beyond its proper limits. The proponents of this legislation are not concerned with navigation, and so with navigable waters in fact. There is a scheme of power development for the demands and the profits of industry under Federal control. They recognize the impracticability of such developments upon streams navigable in fact and in law, except under unusual and exceptional conditions. . . . Limit this definition of 'navigable waters' as we may, and the bill, even then, will go to the very verge of constitutional inhibition. I know of no authority in our fundamental law for the licensing by Congress of corporations and individuals for the building of dams, the erection of power houses, and the generation of electricity for industrial and commercial purposes. There are those who profess to believe that this may be done upon navigable streams as an incident to the improvement of navigation. Whether this view be sound or not, it is clear in my mind that such powers can not be exercised by the Federal Government within the limits of our States upon streams which are not navigable, and over which Congress has no jurisdiction. . . ."
59 Cong.Rec. 6531 (remarks of Representative White).
"As a matter of law, aside from purposes of navigation, the use of the water in the different streams of the several States belongs to the people of those States and not to the Federal Government. The argument insisted upon amounts to this: that the Federal Government is to sell and to make a charge for water that does not belong to it, but which belongs to the people of the States."
59 Cong.Rec. 1430 (remarks of Senator Nelson).
"Mr. KING. Obviously, then, under the Senator's contention, the Federal Government would have jurisdiction over the snow line, and, as the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Thomas] sotto voce says, it would have jurisdiction of the clouds which produce the snow which melts and produces the spring which produces the tributary flowing into the river which is navigable. So that the Federal Government may stretch out its powerful and omnipotent hand until it can grasp the snow in the mountains and say, 'We have jurisdiction over that.'"
"Mr. NELSON. That is a forced construction."
"Mr. KING. I think that the Senator's position leads to that."
"Mr. NELSON. It does not lead to that, and that is not my position. The Senator a few moments ago referred to the Rio Grande case. The court intimated incidentally in that opinion that the control of Congress extended to the feeders of the stream, but when it comes to applying the principles of law to the facts in each case, they must be measured by the facts. The court did not mean to decide that the feeders were navigable. What the court meant to say was that the Federal Government has sufficient jurisdiction over the feeders to see to it that the supply of water shall not be destroyed or so diminished in the feeders as to prevent the main stream from being navigable. . . ."
". . . Does the diversion of the water of a certain feeder of a certain stream for irrigation purposes diminish the quantity of the water to such an extent as to destroy the navigability of the main stream? If the diversion of the water did not diminish the navigability of the main stream, the Government would have no control whatever. Furthermore, it would only have control to the extent of the supply of water needed to subserve the purposes of real navigation."
"We are not seeking to interfere with the present situation, and, no matter what we put into this bill, if the Senator from Maine will excuse me a moment longer, we can not change the decisions of the Supreme Court as to their determination of the words 'navigable stream.' We could not undo by this legislation, if we should make the effort, what they have decided. We have made no such attempt."
59 Cong.Rec. 7730. See also 59 Cong.Rec. 1041-1042, 1472, 7723-7730. Cf. 57 Cong.Rec. 4636-4638, 56 Cong.Rec. 9038.
Especially an issue that was largely theoretical at the time. Prior to the use of the pumped storage technique, hydroelectric projects sufficiently large to serve interstate markets were on the interrupting falls, shallows, and rapids of the navigable mainstream or utilized enough water to affect the flow or level of navigable portions.
Indeed, Congress not only invoked its powers over commerce in § 23(b), but also drew upon its powers over public lands and reservations. Only if there is no effect on commerce and "if no public lands or reservations are affected" is permission granted to construct without a license.
H.R. 3184, 66th Cong., 1st Sess. See also S. 1419, 65th Cong., 1st Sess.
S.Rep. No. 180, 66th Cong., 1st Sess., 19.
"This amendment seeks to prescribe how a stream of doubtful navigability may be determined as within the provisions of the law, and, in substance, it provides that the commission shall ascertain whether the interests of commerce are affected; if not, then permission is granted to construct in accordance with the State laws."
But, whatever the scope of § 23(b), the provision was meant to do more than afford a method for obtaining a determination of the navigability of the stream on which the project was to be located. It applies only if the stream is a non-navigable stream over which Congress has jurisdiction and the Commission is to determine the effect of the project on commerce, not the nature of the stream.
See, e.g., 58 Cong.Rec. 1935; 59 Cong.Rec. 241-244, 1173-1174, 1472, 6529-6531, 7723-7729.
See Hearings before the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on H.R. 5423, 74th Cong., 1st Sess. at 383-391, 471-490; S.Rep. No. 621, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 46-47; H.R.Rep. No. 1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 25-26.
The amendment was proposed by Senator Pittman and adopted by the Senate without discussion. 79 Cong.Rec. 9053. It was deleted by the House Committee, also without explanation. H.R.Rep. No. 1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 42. The Senate agreed. 79 Cong.Rec. 14473.
Respondent notes that, if the use of water resources is at the heart of the matter, then it cannot be explained why the Act differentiates between two precisely similar hydroelectric plants on a nonnavigable stream subject to federal jurisdiction solely because one transmits energy in interstate commerce and the other generates for local use. We fail to perceive the difficulty. The project located on a nonnavigable stream, without any effect on navigability and water commerce and without any interstate sales, may well have no effect on commerce among the States, and thus be beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause.
The Court of Appeals noted that the Commission's novel construction "represents a decided departure from its administrative construction of [the] statute" and "one not based upon generally acknowledged limits of jurisdiction adhered to throughout the years." 326 F.2d at 552. Congress must be deemed to have accepted this consistently held administrative view.
It is true that the FPC has not previously required a license for hydroelectric projects generating for interstate markets, but having no effect on navigability, but the existence of such projects in any number may be doubted. The construction of pure pumped storage installations on small streams is a relatively recent development. Thus, pure pumped storage projects were not of significance to the federal interest in hydroelectric plants in the early days of the Act.
Further, the FPC's view here is not novel. A Court of Appeals expressly dealt with and rejected this construction of the Act in 1939, United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 107 F.2d 769, 79 (C.A.4th Cir.). There, the Court of Appeals held, in a decision relied on by the court below, that the Commission's construction was untenable "either on the basis of statutory construction or constitutional authority," resting this conclusion in part on a very narrow view of Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause over hydroelectric projects, whether on navigable or nonnavigable waters. This Court, although finding the stream in question navigable, rejected this underpinning of the Court of Appeals' decision and made quite explicit the broad nature of the federal interest in hydroelectric projects. The Court also expressly put aside the issues posed by the intended interstate sales. 311 U. S. 311 U.S. 377. Thus, the issue herein presented can fairly be said to have been unsettled and unresolved since that decision, as evidenced by an examiner's ruling in 1954 that a project required a license because it would generate energy for interstate transmission. The Commission followed the earlier Court of Appeals' decision and rejected this ruling in a cursory dictum, the project requiring a license on the more traditional ground of effect on navigability. California Oregon Power Co., 13 F.P.C. 1, 3.
"an issue of such importance must not be allowed to go unresolved any longer, since there can be little doubt that this country, in the years ahead, will become overwhelmingly more dependent upon the maximum development of its water resources in all their uses."
We do not find in these circumstances a generally acknowledged jurisdictional limitation or a consistently held administrative interpretation. See American Trucking Assns. v. United States, 344 U. S. 298.
"ruled for the first time that [a] hydroelectric project to be constructed in and to utilize nonnavigable waters for the purpose of developing power for interstate use . . . cannot be constructed without an FPC license . . . , because it would affect the interests of interstate commerce since the power would be used to supply markets in [other States]."
followed for many years, correctly reflected congressional intent.
an intent to have the licensing requirement apply only when a project affects interests of commerce on navigable waters.
It may well be, as the Court intimates, that some of the Act's proponents believed that Congress constitutionally could require licensing only where navigable waters are affected. [Footnote 2/5] If the legislative history showed an intent to exercise the commerce power to its full extent, notwithstanding doubts as to the reach of this power, I would accept the reading of the statute given by the Court. However, the history, in my view, reveals an express congressional intent to limit the application of the licensing provision to navigable waters irrespective of the scope of the commerce power. There is no indication that anyone envisaged or desired the application of the licensing provision to the type of project here involved which affects interstate commerce only because the electricity produced crosses state lines.
Moreover, to interpret the provision as the Court does today produces a substantial anomaly, for steam generating plants that affect interstate commerce in a manner identical to that of hydroelectric plants such as the one involved here would not be required to obtain a license from the Commission, yet hydroelectric plants would have to obtain one. The Court attempts to explain away this anomaly by stating that, in view of the original Federal Water Power Act's concern with "the power potential in water,"
"the distinction between a hydroelectric project and a steam plant is obvious and meaningful, although both produce energy for interstate transmission."
Moreover, in 1935, Congress reenacted the relevant statutory provisions. The longstanding administrative interpretation of the licensing provision both before and after its reenactment is an important factor in construing the statute. See, e.g., Helvering v. Reynolds, 313 U. S. 428, 313 U. S. 432; Commissioner v. Estate of Noel, 380 U. S. 678; 1 Davis, Administrative Law § 5.07 (1958).
See Appendix A. See also 56 Cong.Rec. 8917, 9038; 57 Cong.Rec. 4638-4639; 59 Cong.Rec. 6529-6531, 7723, 7725, 7730.
"Under this subsection, with the two amendments here made, every person intending to construct a project which might conceivably affect any navigable waters would be under the duty of coming to the Commission."
S.Rep. No. 621, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 47. The House Report expresses similar views. H.R.Rep. No. 1318, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 25-26.
In light of the majority decision in this case, I do not feel it necessary to deal with the Court of Appeals determination that the Commission erred in finding that the hydroelectric project here involved affected navigable waters.
Excerpts from Senate debate on May 27, 1920, 59 Cong.Rec. 7730.
"Mr. KING. This bill, as I interpret it, would make every stream navigable, even to the headwaters of the smallest stream, or up to the snow line, where the snow melts and finds its way by little trickles and rivulets into some other stream. For instance, this language, if the Senator will pardon me_ _"
"Mr. NELSON. Let me call the attention of the Senator to the first part of the amendment, which reads:"
commerce with foreign nations and among the several States --"
"Mr. KING. The Senator will see that that does not impose any limitation upon the Federal Government as to what it may regulate. When it confers the power to regulate commerce among the States, et cetera, that is not a definition of what commerce is, or the extent to which Congress may control streams. The Supreme Court has held, as I understand, that tributaries of tributaries of other tributaries, if any part of such tributary of the final stream was navigable, would be under the cognizance of the Federal Government. That would carry up to the snow line."
"Mr. NELSON. The court's decision only goes to this extent -- and the facts in the case must be considered -- that, as to the tributaries that supply water to the main stream, which is in fact and in law navigable, Congress of necessity must have sufficient jurisdiction over those feeders to prevent their being dammed up and thereby preventing the supply of water running into the main stream. That is the extent of the decision, and the Senator ought to see that that is inevitable, for if all the feeders of our great rivers, such as the Mississippi, the Missouri, and other navigable rivers, could be dammed up so that water would be kept away from them, they would cease to be navigable."
"Mr. KING. I am not arguing that question."
"Mr. NELSON. So the Government has jurisdiction to the extent that the supply of water can not be cut off from a navigable stream."
would have jurisdiction of the clouds which produce the snow which melts and produces the spring which produces the tributary flowing into the river which is navigable. So that the Federal Government may stretch out its powerful and omnipotent hand until it can grasp the snow in the mountains and say, 'We have jurisdiction over that.'"
feeders and then the main stream. It is only in the arid West where it is possible to divert water entirely for irrigation purposes from the main stream."
"To what extent can that be done? I take it that, if a case of that kind should come before the court, the court would consider both the rights of the farmers, who needed the water for irrigation, and the interests of commerce requiring water for navigation, and the question would be one of fact in each case. Does the diversion of the water of a certain feeder of a certain stream for irrigation purposes diminish the quantity of the water to such an extent as to destroy the navigability of the main stream? If the diversion of the water did not diminish the navigability of the main stream, the Government would have no control whatever. Furthermore, it would only have control to the extent of the supply of water needed to subserve the purposes of real navigation."
say that a certain class of streams which are navigable in fact are not navigable, the Supreme Court would overrule us."
"Section 210 of the bill amends section 23 of the Water Power Act. . . . In subsection (b), the present provision that those intending to undertake projects on a nonnavigable tributary of a navigable stream may, in their discretion, file declaration of such intention with the Commission is changed so as to make it a duty to file such a declaration before proceeding with the construction, maintenance or operation of any project on such waters. Furthermore, a provision is inserted expressly making it unlawful to construct a project on any navigable waters without a license granted pursuant to the act. This latter provision is, in substance, the result achieved by the River and Harbor Act of 1899 when read with the Water Power Act. It is thought desirable to bring together the regulations dealing with power projects in a single act. Under this section as amended, every person intending to construct a project which might conceivably affect any navigable waters would be under the duty of coming to the Commission. The act would be greatly strengthened by enabling the Commission to preserve control over all projects with which the Federal Government has any valid concern."
"Mr. MARTIN. Although it may be rather in the form of repetition, the memorandum impresses me that the contention of Mr. Mapes in section 3 is broader, from the standpoint of commerce in the way of a power, than the language in section 4."
"It occurred to me that you could just leave those words 'navigable waters in the United States' in the section and then add as defined in section 3."
"Mr. DEVANE. No, sir; what we are attempting to do is to make it clear that the Commission has the authority to issue [a] license under section 4 in cases that arise under section 23 of the act."
"Mr. MARTIN. The addition of the words defined in section 3, added to 'navigable waters of the United States,' however, would incorporate the section 3 definition of navigable waters."
"Mr. DEVANE. Of course, we think it exists without that amendment."
"Mr. Ryan calls my attention to the fact that section 3 might be considered to apply only to navigable waters, while section 23 applies to nonnavigable waters as well."
"The jurisdiction of Congress extends beyond the navigable waters. It extends to nonnavigable waters where anything you do in those rivers or streams might affect navigation and those are the cases which fall under section 23 of the Act."
"Mr. CROSSER. What was that last statement? I did not quite hear it."
"Mr. DEVANE. Section 23 applies to nonnavigable waters, where anything that is done in those waters might affect interstate or foreign commerce. "
"The CHAIRMAN. I think the committee has your position on that. You may pass on."
"Mr. MAPES. Does the Commission arrive at its conclusion, reach about the same conclusion, as to whether a plant should obtain the license or not, as Congress and the Board of Engineers do when they determine that a stream is navigable and that, therefore, people who desire to build a bridge across it, must get the consent of Congress to do it?"
"Mr. DEVANE. The Commission, in the first instance, refers these declarations of intention to the War Department, the Engineer Corps of the War Department, and an investigation and recommendation is made by that Department, with reference to the effect upon interstate or foreign commerce, and the Commission, if it is necessary after that investigation and report is made, holds hearings, takes evidence, and makes its findings."
"The Commission attempts to act according to the facts as they are shown. In very few of the cases is there ever any controversy."
"Mr. MAPES. Are these two expressions synonymous, or not -- the effect upon interstate commerce and the navigability of a stream?"
"Mr. DEVANE. Mr. Mapes, I think they are. Do you want to hear argument on the other side as to whether they are or not?"
the construction of a project in a certain stream will not, at the time, in fact have, any effect upon interstate or foreign commerce, but that the construction of the project has a potential possibility of affecting interstate or foreign commerce at some future time which will prevent a man from spending money to put commerce on that stream."
"Now that is the way the argument runs."
"Mr. DEVANE. We are not seeking by any amendment that we propose to enlarge the jurisdiction of the Commission in the waters of the United States over which Congress has control."
"Mr. HOLMES. I understood you to say you were, so that you could control other than navigable waters."
"Mr. DEVANE. That is the law today."
"Mr. HOLMES. Then I misunderstood you in that regard."
"Mr. DEVANE. Well, I would like to make that perfectly clear."
"We are not extending the power. We are not proposing any amendment that extends the power of the Commission over any waters of the United States that they do not have power over today -- not at all."
"At this point, Mr. Mapes, I think we might clear up the difficulty that I had in answering a question that you asked me on Saturday."
"You will observe that, under subsection (b) of section 23, persons desiring to construct projects in waters over which Congress has jurisdiction, but which may not be looked upon as navigable waters, as such, may come to the Commission under a declaration of intention and have determined in advance of the construction whether or not a license is necessary. "
"That provision in section 23 is broader than the language in section 3, where the definition of navigable waters is used, the one that you were asking me about, on Saturday."
"The definition of navigable waters in section 3 applies only to those waters that are, in fact, navigable."
"Section 23 applies to waters that are not, in fact, navigable, but where construction may affect interstate or foreign commerce."
"Mr. MAPES. Yes. Has the court sustained the Commission in that respect, the jurisdiction of the Commission?"
"Mr. DEVANE. Of nonnavigable waters?"
"Mr. DEVANE. You are asking about the jurisdiction of Congress over these nonnavigable waters, that affect navigation?"
"Mr. DEVANE. Yes; the jurisdiction of Congress over such streams was upheld in the case of the United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U. S. 690. That was decided under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, which, in effect, is the same as section 23 of this act."

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