Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/495/490
Timestamp: 2016-09-26 19:28:21
Document Index: 611945745

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 7771', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 10', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 4', '§ 1', '§ 27', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 27', '§ 8']

CALIFORNIA, Petitioner v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, et al. | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews CALIFORNIA, Petitioner v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, et al.
495 U.S. 490 (110 S.Ct. 2024, 109 L.Ed.2d 474)
CALIFORNIA, Petitioner v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, et al.
Argued: March 20, 1990.
[HTML] See 497 U.S. 1040, 110 S.Ct. 3304.
Syllabus Pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA), respondent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a license authorizing the operation in California of a hydroelectric project, which draws, and releases a mile later, water from Rock Creek to drive its generators. After considering the project's economic feasibility and environmental consequences, FERC set an interim "minimum flow rate" of water that must remain in the bypassed section of the stream and thus remains unavailable to drive the generators. The State Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) issued a state water permit that conformed to FERC's interim minimum requirements, but reserved the right to set different permanent ones. When WRCB later considered a draft order requiring permanent minimum flow rates well in excess of the FERC rates, the licensee petitioned FERC for a declaration that FERC possessed exclusive jurisdiction to determine the project's minimum flow rates. FERC ordered the licensee to comply with the federal permit's rates, concluding that the task of setting such rates rested within its exclusive jurisdiction. It reasoned that setting the rates was integral to its planning and licensing process under the FPA, and that giving effect to competing state requirements would interfere with its balancing of competing considerations in licensing and would vest in States a veto power over federal projects inconsistent with the FPA, as interpreted in First Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative v. FPC, 328 U.S. 152, 66 S.Ct. 906, 90 L.Ed. 1143. WRCB adopted the higher flow requirements and intervened seeking a rehearing of FERC's order. FERC denied the request, concluded that the State sought to impose conflicting license requirements, and reaffirmed its conclusion that it had exclusive jurisdiction to determine the rates. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that FPA § 27which saves from supersedure state "laws . . . relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation or for municipal or other uses, or any vested right acquired therein" as construed in First Iowa, did not preserve the State's right to regulate minimum flow rates, and that the FPA pre-empted WRCB's minimum flow rate requirements.
(a) Were the meaning of § 27 and the pre-emptive effect of the FPA matters of first impression, the State's argument that the stream flow requirement might relate to a use encompassed by § 27 the generation of power or protection of fishcould be said to present a close question. However, First Iowa has previously construed § 27, holding that it is limited to laws relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water in irrigation or for municipal or other uses of the same nature, and has primary, if not exclusive, reference to such proprietary rights. Such rights are not implicated in the instant case. California's request that First Iowa § interpretation be repudiated misconceives the deference the Court must accord to longstanding and well-entrenched decisions, especially those interpreting statutes that underlie complex regulatory regimes. There has been no sufficient intervening change in the law, or indication that First Iowa has proved unworkable or has fostered confusion and inconsistency in the law, that warrants a departure from established precedent. First Iowa § limited reading of § 27 has been endorsed, see FPC v. Oregon, 349 U.S. 435, 75 S.Ct. 832, 99 L.Ed. 1215, and the decision has been employed with approval in a range of cases. In addition, Congress has amended the FPA to elaborate and reaffirm First Iowa § understanding that the FPA establishes a broad and paramount federal regulatory role. Pp. 496-500.
(b) First Iowa § narrow reading of § 27 was not dictum, but was necessary for and integral to the Court's conclusion that FPA § 9(b)which governs submission to the federal licensing agency of evidence of compliance with state lawdid not require licensees to obtain a state permit or to demonstrate compliance with the state law prerequisites to obtaining such a permit, but rather merely authorized the federal agency to require evidence of actions consistent with the federal permit. A broad interpretation of § 27 would have "saved" the state licensing requirements and would have created concurrent jurisdiction of state and federal authorities over the same subject matter. Pp. 500-503.
(c) Although California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018, construed § 8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902which is similar to, and served as a model for, FPA § 27 in a manner more generous to the States' regulatory powers than was First Iowa § reading of § 27, it bears quite indirectly, at best, upon the FPA's interpretation. In interpreting the Reclamation Act, the Court did not advert to or purport to interpret the FPA, and held simply that § 8 requires the Secretary of the Interior to comply with state laws governing the use of water employed in federal reclamation projects. The purpose, structure, and legislative history of the two statutes show that the FPA envisioned a considerably broader and more active federal oversight role in hydropower development than did the Reclamation Act. Even if the two saving clauses were properly viewed in isolation from the remainder of their respective Acts, § 8 explicitly directs that the Secretary "shall proceed in conformity with such state laws," language which has no counterpart in § 27 and which was crucial to the Court's interpretation of § 8. Pp. 503-505.
This case concerns overlapping federal and state regulation of a hydroelectric project located near a California stream. California seeks to ensure that the project's operators maintain water flowing in the stream sufficient, in the State's judgment, to protect the stream's fish. The Federal Government claims the exclusive authority to set the minimum stream flows that the federally licensed powerplant must maintain. Each side argues that its position is consistent with the Federal Power Act, ch. 285, 41 Stat. 1063, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 791a et seq. (1982 ed.), and, in particular, with § 27 of that Act. We granted certiorari to resolve these competing claims.
In 1983, pursuant to the Federal Power Act (FPA or Act), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a license authorizing the operation of the Rock Creek project. Keating, 23 FERC ¶ 62,137. Section 4(e) of the FPA empowers FERC to issue licenses for projects "necessary or convenient . . . for the development, transmission, and utilization of power across, along, from, or in any of the streams . . . over which Congress has jurisdiction." 16 U.S.C. 797(e) (1982 ed.). Section 10(a) of the Act also authorizes FERC to issue licenses subject to the conditions that FERC deems best suited for power development and other public uses of the waters. 16 U.S.C. 803(a) (1982 ed.). Congress' subsequent amendments to those provisions expressly direct that FERC consider a project's effect on fish and wildlife as well as "power and development purposes." Electric Consumers Protection Act of 1986, Pub.L. 99-495, 100 Stat. 1243, 16 U.S.C. 797(e), 803(a)(1). FERC issued the 1983 license and set minimum flow rates after considering the project's economic feasibility and environmental consequences. In part to protect trout in the stream, the license required that the project maintain interim minimum flow rates of 11 cubic feet per second (cfs) during May through September and 15 cfs during the remainder of the year. 23 FERC ¶ 62,137, at 63,204. The license also required the licensee to submit studies recommending a permanent minimum flow rate, after consulting with federal and state fish and wildlife protection agencies. Ibid. In 1985, the licensee submitted a report recommending that FERC adopt the interim flow rates as permanent rates. The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) recommended that FERC require significantly higher minimum flow rates.
"Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as affecting or intending to affect or in any way to interfere with the laws of the respective States relating to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation or for municipal or other uses, or any vested right acquired therein." 16 U.S.C. 821 (1982).
Were this a case of first impression, petitioner's argument based on the statute's language could be said to present a close question. As petitioner argues, California's minimum stream flow requirement might plausibly be thought to "relate to the control, appropriation, use, or distribution of water used . . . for . . . other uses," namely the generation of power or the protection of fish. This interpretation would accord with the "presumption against finding pre-emption of state law in areas traditionally regulated by the States" and " 'with the assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.' " California v. ARC America Corp., 490 U.S. 93, 101, 109 S.Ct. 1661, 1665, 104 L.Ed.2d 86 (1989), quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 1152, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947); see California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 653-663, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 2990-2995, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978) (tracing States' traditional powers over exploitation of water). Just as courts may not find state measures pre-empted in the absence of clear evidence that Congress so intended, so must they give full effect to evidence that Congress considered, and sought to preserve, the States' coordinate regulatory role in our federal scheme.
We decline at this late date to revisit and disturb the understanding of § 27 set forth in First Iowa. As petitioner prudently concedes, Tr. of Oral Arg. 7, First Iowa 's interpretation of § 27 does not encompass the California regulation at issue: California's minimum stream flow requirements neither reflect nor establish "proprietary rights" or "rights of the same nature as those relating to the use of water in irrigation or for municipal purposes." First Iowa, supra, at 176, 66 S.Ct., at 917; see Fullerton v. State Water Resources Control Board, 90 Cal.App.3d 590, 153 Cal.Rptr. 518 (1979); accord, California Trout, Inc. v. State Water Resources Control Board, 90 Cal.App.3d 816, 153 Cal.Rptr. 672 (1979). Instead, petitioner requests that we repudiate First Iowa's interpretation of § 27 and the FPA. This argument misconceives the deference this Court must accord to longstanding and well-entrenched decisions, especially those interpreting statutes that underlie complex regulatory regimes. Adherence to precedent is, in the usual case, a cardinal and guiding principle of adjudication, and "considerations of stare decisis have special force in the area of statutory interpretation, for here, unlike in the context of constitutional interpretation, the legislative power is implicated, and Congress remains free to alter what we have done." Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 172-173, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 2370, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989). There has been no sufficient intervening change in the law, or indication that First Iowa has proved unworkable or has fostered confusion and inconsistency in the law, that warrants our departure from established precedent. Cf. id., at 173, 109 S.Ct., at 2371. This Court has endorsed and applied First Iowa § limited reading of § 27, see FPC v. Oregon, 349 U.S. 435, 75 S.Ct. 832, 99 L.Ed. 1215 (1955); cf. FPC v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 347 U.S. 239, 74 S.Ct. 487, 98 L.Ed. 666 (1954), and has employed the decision with approval in a range of decisions, both addressing the FPA and in other contexts. See, e.g., New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, 455 U.S. 331, 338, n. 6, 102 S.Ct. 1096, 1100, n. 6, 71 L.Ed.2d 188 (1982); Escondido Mut. Water Co. v. La Jolla Band of Mission Indians, 466 U.S. 765, 773, 104 S.Ct. 2105, 2110, 80 L.Ed.2d 753 (1984); City of Tacoma v. Taxpayers of Tacoma, 357 U.S. 320, 334, 78 S.Ct. 1209, 1217, 2 L.Ed.2d 1345 (1958); Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Comm'n, 461 U.S. 190, 223, n. 34, 103 S.Ct. 1713, 1732, n. 34, 75 L.Ed.2d 752 (1983). By directing FERC to consider the recommendations of state wildlife and other regulatory agencies while providing FERC with final authority to establish license conditions (including those with terms inconsistent with the States' recommendations), Congress has amended the FPA to elaborate and reaffirm First Iowa § understanding that the FPA establishes a broad and paramount federal regulatory role. See 16 U.S.C. 803(a)(1)-(3) (FERC to issue license on conditions that protect fish and wildlife, after considering recommendations of state agencies), as amended by the Electric Consumers Protection Act of 1986, 16 U.S.C. 803(j)(1)-(2) (FERC license conditions protecting fish and wildlife to be based on recommendations of federal and state wildlife agencies, with FERC to issue findings if it adopts conditions contrary to recommendations); cf. Square D Co. v. Niagara Frontier Tariff Bureau, Inc., 476 U.S. 409, 424, 106 S.Ct. 1922, 1930, 90 L.Ed.2d 413 (1986) ("We are especially reluctant to reject this presumption of adherence to precedent in an area that has seen careful, intense, and sustained congressional attention").
Petitioner also argues that we should disregard First Iowa 's discussion of § 27 because it was merely dictum. It is true that our immediate concern in First Iowa was the interpretation of § 9(b) of the FPA, which governs submission to the federal licensing agency of evidence of compliance with state law.
The Court determined that § 9(b) did not require licensees to obtain a state permit or to demonstrate compliance with the state law prerequisites to obtaining such a permit. First Iowa, 328 U.S., at 163-164, 167, 177, 66 S.Ct., at 911-912, 913, 918. Instead, the Court construed the section merely as authorizing the federal agency to require evidence of actions consistent with the federal permit. Id., at 167-169, 177-179, 66 S.Ct., at 913-914, 918-919. First Iowa § limited reading of § 27 was, however, necessary for, and integral to, that conclusion. Like this case, First Iowa involved a state permit requirement that related to the control of water for particular uses but that did not relate to or establish proprietary rights. Iowa had required as one condition of securing a state permit that diverted water be "returned . . . at the nearest practicable place without being materially diminished in quantity or polluted or rendered deleterious to fish life," Iowa Code § 7771 (1939), a provision the Court found to conflict with the federal requirements and to "strike at the heart of the present project." First Iowa, 328 U.S., at 166-167, 170-171, 66 S.Ct., at 912-913, 914-915. The Court reasoned that, absent an express congressional command, § 9(b) could not be read to require compliance with, and thus to preserve, state laws that conflicted with and were otherwise pre-empted by the federal requirements. See id., at 166-167, 66 S.Ct., at 912-913 ("If a state permit is not required, there is no justification for requiring the petitioner, as a condition of securing its federal permit, to present evidence of the petitioner's compliance with the requirements of the State Code for a state permit"); id., at 177, 66 S.Ct., at 918. Only the Court's narrow reading of § 27 allowed it to sustain this interpretation of § 9(b). Had § 27 been given the broader meaning that Iowa sought, it would have "saved" the state requirements at issue, made the state permit one that could be issued, and supported the interpretation of § 9(b) as requiring evidence of compliance with those state requirements, rather than compliance only with those requirements consistent with the federal license.
The Court's related, but more general, rationale for its reading of § 9(b) in First Iowa also necessarily rested on its narrow construction of § 27. The Court framed the issue as whether the Act allowed the States to regulate through permit requirements such as Iowa's "the very requirements of the project that Congress has placed in the discretion of the Federal Power Commission." Id., at 165, 66 S.Ct., at 912 (footnote citing FPA § 10(a) omitted). The Court rejected the possibility of concurrent jurisdiction and interpreted the FPA as mandating divided powers and "a dual system involving the close integration of these powers rather than a dual system of futile duplication of two authorities over the same subject matter." Id., at 171, 66 S.Ct., at 915; see id., at 174, 66 S.Ct., at 916 (no "divided authority over any one subject"); id., at 181, 66 S.Ct., at 920 (comprehensive federal role "leaves no room or need for conflicting state controls"). Section 9 reflected the operation of this exclusive federal authority. See id., at 167-169, 66 S.Ct., at 913-914; id., at 168, 66 S.Ct., at 913 ("Where the Federal Government supersedes the state government there is no suggestion that the two agencies both shall have final authority"). In accord with this view, the Court interpreted § 9(b) as requiring compliance only with state measures relevant to federal requirements rather than, as would exist under a system of concurrent jurisdiction, compliance with the state requirements necessary to secure the state permit. Id., at 167-169, 66 S.Ct. at 913-914. Instead, only § 27 preserved and defined the States' exclusive regulatory sphere. Id., at 175-178, 66 S.Ct., at 917-918. That is, the Court rejected an interpretation of § 9(b) that would have "saved" or accommodated the state permit system and its underlying requirements. To reach its interpretation of § 9(b), however, the Court had to interpret § 27 consistently with the limited state regulatory sphere and in a manner that did not, by "saving" the Iowa requirements, establish "divided authority over any one subject." Id., at 174, 66 S.Ct., at 916. Constricting § 27 to encompass only laws relating to proprietary rights, and thus leaving the permit requirements at issue to the federal sphere, accomplished that goal. The Court's discussion immediately after its extended discussion of § 27 illustrates the relation between the sections. Before distinguishing § 27's role in saving state law from § 9(b)'s role in the sphere of exclusive federal regulation, the Court concluded:
"Section 27 is therefore thoroughly consistent with the integration rather than the duplication of federal and state jurisdictions under the Federal Power Act. It strengthens the argument that, in those fields where rights are not thus "saved" to the States, Congress is willing to let the supersedure of the state laws by federal legislation take its natural course." Id., at 176, 66 S.Ct., at 917.
Petitioner also argues that our decision in California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978), construing § 8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902,
requires that we abandon First Iowa § interpretation of § 27 and the FPA. Petitioner reasons that § 8 is similar to, and served as a model for, FPA § 27, that this Court in California v. United States interpreted § 8 in a manner inconsistent with First Iowa 's reading of § 27, and that that reading of § 8, subsequent to First Iowa, in some manner overrules or repudiates First Iowa 's understanding of § 27. California v. United States is cast in broad terms and embodies a conception of the States' regulatory powers in some tension with that set forth in First Iowa, but that decision bears quite indirectly, at best, upon interpretation of the FPA. The Court in California v. United States interpreted the Reclamation Act of 1902; it did not advert to, or purport to interpret, the FPA, and held simply that § 8 requires the Secretary of the Interior to comply with state laws, not inconsistent with congressional directives, governing use of water employed in federal reclamation projects. California v. United States, supra. Also, as in First Iowa, the Court in California v. United States examined the purpose, structure, and legislative history of the entire statute before it and employed those sources to construe the statute's saving clause. See 438 U.S., at 649-651, 653-670, 674-675, 98 S.Ct., at 2988-2989, 2990-2998, 3000-3001. Those sources indicate, of course, that the FPA envisioned a considerably broader and more active federal oversight role in hydropower development than did the Reclamation Act. Compare FPA §§ 4, 9, 10, as codified, 16 U.S.C. 797, 802, 803, and First Iowa, 328 U.S., at 164, 167-169, 171-174, 179-181, 66 S.Ct., at 911, 913-914, 915-916, 918-920, with Reclamation Act of 1902 §§ 1, 2, 32 Stat. 388, as codified, 43 U.S.C. 391, 411 (1982 ed.), and California v. United States, supra, at 649-651, 663-670, 98 S.Ct., at 2988-2989, 2995-2998.
Even if the two saving clauses were properly viewed in isolation from the remainder of their respective Acts and resulting regulatory schemes, significant differences exist between them. Section 8 of the Reclamation Act, after referring to state water laws relating to water used in irrigation and preserved by the Act, contains an explicit direction that "the Secretary of the Interior, in carrying out the provisions of this Act, shall proceed in conformity with such state laws." 43 U.S.C. 383 (1982 ed.). This language has no counterpart in § 27 of the FPA and was crucial to the Court's interpretation of § 8. See California v. United States, supra, at 650, 664-665, 674-675, 98 S.Ct., at 2988, 2995-2996, 3000-3001. Although California v. United States and First Iowa accord different effect to laws relating to water uses, this difference stems in part from the different roles assumed by the federal actor in each case, as reflected in § 8's explicit directive to the Secretary. The Secretary in executing a particular reclamation project is in a position analogous to a licensee under the FPA and need not comply with state laws conflicting with congressional directives respecting particular reclamation projects, see id., 438 U.S., at 672-674, 98 S.Ct., at 2999-3001; similarly, a federal licensee under the FPA need not comply with state requirements that conflict with the federal license provisions established pursuant to the FPA's directives. An additional textual difference is that § 8 refers only to "water used in irrigation" and contains no counterpart to § 27's reference to "other uses," the provision essential to petitioner's argument. Laws controlling water used in irrigation relate to proprietary rights, as the First Iowa Court indicated, 328 U.S., at 176, and n. 20, 66 S.Ct., at 917, and n. 20, and § 8 does not indicate the appropriate treatment of laws relating to other water uses that do not implicate proprietary rights.
Section 9(b), 16 U.S.C. 802(a)(2) (formerly 16 U.S.C. 802(b) (1982 ed.)), provides:
"(a) Each applicant for a license under this chapter shall submit to the commission
Section 8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902, 32 Stat. 390, now 43 U.S.C. 372, 383 (1982 ed.), provided in part: