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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 23', '§ 9', '§ 240', '§ 347', '§ 313', '§ 825', '§ 7767', '§ 7767', '§ 4', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 14', '§ 9', '§ 27', '§ 27', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 791', '§ 9', '§ 802', '§ 9', '§ 4', '§ 767', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9']

First Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative v. FPC - 328 U.S. 152 (1946) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
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Case	U.S. Supreme CourtFirst Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative v. FPC, 328 U.S. 152 (1946)First Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative v. Federal Power CommissionNo. 603Argued March 8, 1946Decided April 29, 1946328 U.S. 152CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
1. Compliance with requirements for a state permit under Iowa Code, 1939, ch. 363, is not a condition precedent to, or an administrative procedure that must be exhausted before, securing a federal license. Pp. 328 U. S. 163, 328 U. S. 170, 328 U. S. 182. Page 328 U. S. 153
(h) The express provision of § 27 requiring that the Act be not construed as affecting the laws of the 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, indicates that § 9(b) should not be given a like effect in the absence of a similar provision. Pp. 328 U. S. 175-178. Page 328 U. S. 154
(e) There is ample opportunity and authority for the Commission to require by regulation the presentation of evidence satisfactory to it of petitioner's compliance with any of the requirements for a state permit that the Commission considers appropriate to effect the purposes of a federal license. P. 328 U. S. 167. Page 328 U. S. 155
Petitioner applied to the Federal Power Commission for a license to construct, operate, and maintain a power project on navigable waters in Iowa. The State intervened and urged that the application be denied because petitioner had not presented satisfactory evidence of its compliance with the requirements of Iowa Code, 1939, ch. 363, as to the issuance of a permit by the State Executive Council. The Commission dismissed the application "without prejudice to renewal within one year upon satisfying the requirements of Section 9(b) of the Federal Power Act." 52 P.U.R.(N.S) 82. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed. 151 F.2d 20. This Court granted certiorari. 3265 U.S. 715. Reversed, p. 328 U. S. 183. Page 328 U. S. 156
This case illustrates the integration of federal and state jurisdictions in licensing water power projects under the Federal Power Act. [Footnote 1] The petitioner is the First Iowa Hydro-Electric Cooperative, a cooperative association organized under the laws of Iowa with power to generate, distribute, and sell electric energy. On January 29, 1940, pursuant to § 23(b) [Footnote 2] of the Federal Power Act, it Page 328 U. S. 157 filed with the Federal Power Commission a declaration of intention to construct and operate a dam, reservoir, and hydroelectric power plant on the Cedar River, near Moscow, Iowa. [Footnote 3]
On April 2, 1941, it also filed with the Commission an application for a license, under the Federal Power Act, to construct an enlarged project essentially like the one it now wishes to build. The cost of the enlarged project is estimated at $14,600,000. It calls for an 8,300-foot earthen dam on the Cedar River near Moscow, an 11,000-acre reservoir at that point, and an eight-mile diversion canal to a power plant to be built near Muscatine on the Mississippi. The canal will create two other reservoirs totaling 2,000 acres. It is alleged that the three reservoirs incidentally will provide needed recreational facilities. The power plant will have four turbo-generating units with a total capacity of 50,000 kw., operating with an average head of 101 feet of water provided by the fall from the canal to the Mississippi. Water will be pumped from the Mississippi up to the head bays of the power intake dam at the plant to meet possible shortages in supply. The tailrace will extend for a mile along the shore of the Mississippi to a point below Dam 16 on that River. Transmission lines will connect the project with a source of steam standby electric current at Davenport, Iowa, 24 miles up the Mississippi. The plant is expected to produce 200,000,000 kwh. of marketable power per year, of which 151,000,000 kwh. will be firm energy in an average year. Interchange of energy is proposed with the Moline-Rock Island Manufacturing Company near Davenport, and the project is suggested as an alternative to the addition Page 328 U. S. 158 of a 50,000 kw. unit to the plant of that company. The power will be available especially to nonprofit rural electrification cooperative associations and to cities and towns in 35 or more nearby counties.
"(3) That the alternate withholding of water in the reservoir and canal during periods of shut-down of the power plant and the release of water at substantial rates of flow during periods of operation of the power plant, as set forth above, would cause extreme fluctuations in the flow of the Mississippi River at Page 328 U. S. 159 Muscatine, Iowa, and would substantially affect the navigable capacity of that river;"
On August 11, 1941, the petitioner, pursuant to that finding, filed with the Commission an application for a license to construct the project above described. On November 4, 1941, the Commission granted the Iowa's petition to intervene, and, since then, the State has opposed actively the granting of the federal license. Page 328 U. S. 160
We believe that the Commission would have been justified in proceeding further at that time with its consideration of the petitioner's application upon all the material facts. Such consideration would have included evidence submitted by the petitioner pursuant to § 9(b) Page 328 U. S. 161 of the Federal Power Act [Footnote 6] as to the petitioner's compliance with the requirements of the laws of Iowa with respect to the petitioner's property rights to make its proposed use of the affected river beds and banks and to divert and use river water for the proposed power purposes, as well as the petitioner's right, within the Iowa, to engage in the business of developing, transmitting, and distributing power, and in any other business necessary to effect the purposes of the license. The Commission, however, was confronted at that point with a claim by the Iowa that the petitioner must not only meet the requirements for a federal license for the project under the Federal Power Act, but should also present satisfactory evidence of its compliance with the requirements of Chapter 363 of the Code of Iowa, 1939, hereinafter discussed, for a permit from the State Executive Council of Iowa for the same project.
While it now appears from its brief and the argument in this Court that it is the opinion of the Federal Power Commission that the requirements of Chapter 363 of the Code of Iowa as to this project have been superseded by those of the Federal Power Act, yet, at the time of the original hearing, the Commission felt that the courts were the appropriate place for the decision on Iowa's contention as to the applicability and effectiveness of Chapter 363 Page 328 U. S. 162 of its Code in relation to this project. The Commission decided, therefore, to proceed no further until that question had been decided by the courts, and dismissed the petitioner's application, without prejudice, in accordance with the following explanation stated in its opinion:
On the applicant's petition for review of the dismissal, it was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. 151 F.2d 20. We then granted certiorari under § 240(a) of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. § 347(a), and § 313(b) of the Federal Power Act, Page 328 U. S. 163 49 Stat. 860, 16 U.S.C. § 825l, because of the importance of the case in applying the Federal Power Act.
The findings made by the Commission on June 3, 1941, in response to the petitioner's declaration of intention are not in question. For the purposes of this application, it is settled that the project will affect the navigability of the Cedar, Iowa, and Mississippi Rivers, each of which has been determined to be a part of the navigable waters of the United States; will affect the interests of interstate commerce; will flood certain public lands of the United States, and will require for its construction a license from the Commission. [Footnote 7] The project is clearly within the jurisdiction of the Commission under the Federal Power Act. The question at issue is the need, if any, for the presentation of satisfactory evidence of the petitioner's compliance Page 328 U. S. 164 with the terms of Chapter 363 of the Code of Iowa. This question is put in issue by the petition for review of the order of the Commission which dismissed the application solely on the ground of the failure of the petitioner to present such evidence. The laws of Iowa, which that State contends are applicable and require a permit from its Executive Council to effect the purposes of the federal license, are all in §§ 7767-7796.1 of the Code of Iowa, 1939, constituting Chapter 363, entitled "Mill Dams and Races." Section 7767 of that chapter is alleged to require the issuance of a permit by the Executive Council of the State, and is the one on which the Commission's order must depend. It provides:
To require the petitioner to secure the actual grant to it of a State permit under § 7767 as a condition precedent to securing a federal license for the same project under the Federal Power Act would vest in the Executive Council of Iowa a veto power over the federal project. Such a veto power easily could destroy the effectiveness of the federal act. It would subordinate to the control of the State the "comprehensive" planning which the Act provides shall depend upon the judgment of the Federal Power Commission or other representatives of the Federal Government. [Footnote 9] Page 328 U. S. 165
"7771 When permit granted. If it shall appear to the council that the construction, operation, or Page 328 U. S. 166 maintenance of the dam will not materially obstruct existing navigation, or materially affect other public rights, will not endanger life or public health, and any water taken from the stream in connection with the project is returned thereto at the nearest practicable place without being materially diminished in quantity or polluted or rendered deleterious to fish life, it shall grant the permit, upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe."
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 Page 328 U. S. 167 with the requirements of the State Code for a State permit. Compliance with State requirements that are in conflict with federal requirements may well block the federal license. For example, compliance with the State requirement, discussed above, that the water of the Cedar River all be returned to it at the nearest practicable place would reduce the project to the small one which is classified by the Federal Power Commission as "neither desirable nor adequate." Similarly, compliance with the engineering requirements of the State Executive Council, if additional to or different from the federal requirements, may well result in duplications of expenditures that would handicap the financial success of the project. Compliance with requirements for a permit that is not to be issued is a procedure so futile that it cannot be imputed to Congress in the absence of an express provision for it. On the other hand, there is ample opportunity for the Federal Power Commission, under the authority expressly given to it by Congress, to require by regulation the presentation of evidence satisfactory to it of the petitioner's compliance with any of the requirements for a State permit on the state waters of Iowa that the Commission considers appropriate to effect the purposes of a federal license on the navigable waters of the United States. This evidence can be required of the petitioner upon the remanding of this application to the Commission.
In the Federal Power Act, there is a separation of those subjects which remain under the jurisdiction of the states from those subjects which the Constitution delegates to the United States and over which Congress vests the Federal Power Commission with authority to act. To the extent of this separation, the Act establishes a dual system of control. The duality of control consists merely of the division of the common enterprise between two cooperating agencies of Government, each with final authority in its own jurisdiction. The duality does not require two Page 328 U. S. 168 agencies to share in the final decision of the same issue. Where the Federal Government supersedes the state government, there is no suggestion that the two agencies both shall have final authority. In fact, a contrary policy is indicated in §§ 4(e), 10(a)(b) and (c), and 23(b). [Footnote 12] In those sections, the Act places the responsibility squarely upon federal officials, and usually upon the Federal Power Commission. A dual final authority, with a duplicate system of state permits and federal licenses required for each project, would be unworkable. "Compliance with the requirements" of such a duplicated system of licensing would be nearly as bad. Conformity to both standards would be impossible in some cases, and probably difficult in most of them. [Footnote 13] The solution adopted by Congress, as to what evidence an applicant for a federal license should submit to the Federal Power Commission, appears in § 9 of its Act. It contains not only subsection (b), [Footnote 14] but also subsections (a) and (c). [Footnote 15] Section 9(c) permits Page 328 U. S. 169 the Commission to secure from the applicant "[s]uch additional information as the commission may require." This enables it to secure, insofar as it deems it material, such parts or all of the information that the respective states may have prescribed in state statutes as a basis for state action. The entire administrative procedure required as to the present application for a license is described in § 9 and in the Rules of Practice and Regulations of the Commission. [Footnote 16] Page 328 U. S. 170
Furthermore, the Executive Council, which includes the Governor of the State, on July 5, Page 328 U. S. 171 1944, adopted a resolution directing the Attorney General of Iowa to intervene in this case before that court, and "thereby take steps to sustain the said order of the Federal Power Commission [dismissing the petitioner's application for a federal license]" because "it is vital to the interests of the Iowa that the said order of the Commission be sustained." This demonstrates that the State of Iowa not only is opposed to the granting of a State permit, but is opposed also to the granting of a federal license for the project. This opposition is based at least in part on the ground that the State statute, as interpreted by the State officials, expresses a policy opposed to the diversion of water from one stream to another in Iowa under such circumstances as the present.
The Act leaves to the states their traditional jurisdiction subject to the admittedly superior right of the Federal Government, through Congress, to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, administer the public lands and reservations of the United States and, in certain cases, exercise authority under the treaties of the United States. These sources of constitutional authority are all applied in Page 328 U. S. 172 the Federal Power Act to the development of the navigable waters of the United States. [Footnote 17]
The closeness of the relationship of the Federal Government to these projects and its obvious concern in maintaining control over their engineering, economic, and financial soundness is emphasized by such provisions as those of § 14 authorizing the Federal Government, at the Page 328 U. S. 173 expiration of a license, to take over the licensed project by payment of "the net investment of the licensee in the project or projects taken, not to exceed the fair value of the property taken," plus an allowance for severance damages. The scope of the whole program has been further aided, in 1940, by the definition given to navigable waters of the United States in United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 311 U. S. 377.
Further light is thrown upon the meaning of the Federal Power Act by the statement, made by Representative William L. LaFollette of Washington, a member of the Special Committee on Water Power, which reported the bill which later became the Federal Water Power Act of 1920. In the debate which led to the insertion in § 9(b) Page 328 U. S. 174 of the reference to state laws as to the bed and banks of streams, he said:
As indicated by Representative LaFollette, Congress was concerned with overcoming the danger of divided authority so as to bring about the needed development of water power, and also with the recognition of the constitutional rights of the states so as to sustain the validity of the Act. The resulting integration of the respective jurisdictions of the state and Federal Governments is illustrated by the careful preservation of the separate interests of the states throughout the Act, without setting up a divided authority over any one subject. [Footnote 19] Page 328 U. S. 175
The effect of § 27 in protecting state laws from supersedure is limited to laws as to the control, appropriation, Page 328 U. S. 176 use or distribution of water in irrigation or for municipal or other uses of the same nature. It therefore has primary, if not exclusive, reference to such proprietary rights. The phrase "any vested right acquired therein" further emphasizes the application of the section to property rights. There is nothing in the paragraph to suggest a broader scope, unless it be the words "other uses." Those words, however, are confined to rights of the same nature as those relating to the use of water in irrigation or for municipal purposes. This was so held in an early decision by a District Court relating to § 27 and upholding the constitutionality of the Act, where it was stated that "a proper construction of the act requires that the words other uses' shall be construed ejusdem generis with the words `irrigation' and `municipal.'" Alabama Power Co. v. Gulf Power Co., 283 F. 606, 619.
This section, therefore, is 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. [Footnote 20] Page 328 U. S. 177
It does not itself require compliance with any state laws. Its reference to state laws is by way of suggestion to the Page 328 U. S. 178 Federal Power Commission of subjects as to which the Commission may wish some proof submitted to it of the applicant's progress. The evidence required is described merely as that which shall be "satisfactory" to the Commission. The need for compliance with applicable state laws, if any, arises not from this federal statute, but from the effectiveness of the state statutes themselves.
When this application has been remanded to the Commission, that Commission will not act as a substitute for the local authorities having jurisdiction over such questions as the sufficiency of the legal title of the applicant to its riparian rights, or as to the validity of its local franchises, if any, relating to proposed intrastate public utility service. Section 9(b) says that the Commission may wish to have "satisfactory evidence" of the progress made by the applicant toward meeting local requirements, but it does not say that the Commission is to assume responsibility for the legal sufficiency of the steps taken. The references made in § 9(b) to beds and banks of streams, to proprietary rights to divert or use water, or to legal rights to engage locally in the business of developing, transmitting, and distributing power neither add anything to nor detract anything from the force of the local laws, if any, on those subjects. Insofar as those laws have not been superseded by the Federal Power Act, they remain as applicable and effective as they were before its passage. The State of Iowa, however, has sought to sustain the applicability and validity of Chapter 363 of the Code of Iowa in this connection on the ground that the Federal Power Act, by the implications of § 9(b), has recognized this chapter of Iowa law as part of a system of dual control of power project permits, cumbersome and complicated though it be. If it had been the wish of Congress to make the applicant obtain consent of state, as well as federal authorities, to each project, the simple thing would Page 328 U. S. 179 have been to so provide. In the course of the long debate on the legislation, it was proposed at one time to provide for some such a consent in § 9(b).
The purpose of this section, as thus explained, is consistent with the contention of the Commission in this case. It provides for presentation of information to the federal commission, and protects the constitutional rights of the States. This explanation does not support the contention of the State of Iowa that § 9(b) amounts to the subjection of the federal license to requirements of the state law on the same subject. The inappropriateness of such Page 328 U. S. 180 an interpretation is apparent in the light of the circumstances which culminated in the passage of the Federal Water Power Act in 1920. The purposes of the Act were then so generally known as to have made such a restrictive interpretation impossible, and a denial of it unnecessary. It 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, instead of the piecemeal, restrictive, negative approach of the River and Harbor Acts and other federal laws previously enacted.
It was a major undertaking involving a major change of national policy. [Footnote 23] That it was the intention of Congress Page 328 U. S. 181 to secure a comprehensive development of national resources, and not merely to prevent obstructions to navigation, is apparent from the provisions of the Act, the statutory scheme of which has been several times reviewed and approved by the courts. [Footnote 24]
The detailed provisions of the Act providing for the federal plan of regulation leave no room or need for conflicting state controls. [Footnote 25] The contention of the State of Page 328 U. S. 182 Iowa is comparable to that which was presented on behalf of 41 States and rejected by this Court in United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 311 U. S. 377, 311 U. S. 404-405, 311 U. S. 426-427, where this Court said:
"* * * *" "The point is that navigable waters are subject to national planning and control in the broad regulation of commerce granted the Federal Government. The license conditions to which objection is made have an obvious relationship to the exercise of the commerce power. Even if there were no such relationship, the plenary power of Congress over navigable waters would empower it to deny the privilege of constructing an obstruction in those waters. It may likewise grant the privilege on terms. It is no objection to the terms and to the exertion of the power that 'its exercise is attended by the same incidents which attend the exercise of the police power of the states.' The Congressional authority under the commerce clause is complete unless limited by the Fifth Amendment."
It is the Federal Power Commission, rather than the Iowa Executive Council, that, under our constitutional Government, must pass upon these issues on behalf of the people of Iowa, as well as on behalf of all others. Page 328 U. S. 183
"* * * *" "(b) It shall be unlawful for any person, State, or municipality, 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 . . . of the United States . . . except under and in accordance with the terms of . . . a license granted pursuant to this Act. Any person, association, corporation, State, or municipality 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, association, corporation, State, or municipality 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 . . . are affected, permission is hereby granted to construct such dam or other project works in such stream upon compliance with State laws."
"* * * *" "(b) Satisfactory evidence that the applicant has complied with the requirements of the laws of the State or States within which the proposed project is to be located with respect to bed and banks and to the appropriation, diversion, and use of water for power purposes and with respect to the right to engage in the business of developing, transmitting, and distributing power, and in any other business necessary to effect the purposes of a license under this Act."
"* * * *" "(e) To issue licenses . . . to any corporation organized under the laws of the United States or any State thereof . . . for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining dams, water conduits, reservoirs, power houses, transmission lines, or other project works necessary or convenient for the development and improvement of navigation and for the development, transmission, and utilization of power across, along, from, or in any of the streams or other bodies of water over which Congress has jurisdiction under its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, or upon any part of the public lands . . . of the United States . . . : Provided, further, That no license affecting navigable capacity of any navigable waters of the United States shall be issued until the plans of the dam or other structures affecting navigation have been approved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War. Whenever the contemplated improvement is, in the judgment of the commission, desirable and justified in the public interest for the purpose of improving or developing a waterway or waterways for the use or benefit of interstate or foreign commerce, a finding to that effect shall be made by the commission and shall become a part of the records of the Commission. . . ."
"* * * *" "(b) That, except when emergency shall require for the protection of navigation, life, health, or property, no substantial alteration or addition not in conformity with the approved plans shall be made to any dam or other project works constructed hereunder . . . without the prior approval of the Commission, and any emergency alteration or addition so made shall thereafter be subject to such modification and change as the Commission may direct."
"* * * *" "(c) Such additional information as the commission may require."
We are all agreed that Congress has the constitutional power to promote a comprehensive development of the nation's water resources, and that it has exercised its authority by the Federal Power Act. 41 Stat. 1063, 49 Stat. 838, 16 U.S.C. § 791a et seq. See United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co., 229 U. S. 53; New Jersey v. Sargent, 269 U. S. 328; United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 311 U. S. 377. And, in view of Congress' power, of course, this enactment overrides all State legislation in conflict with it. But the national policy for water power development formulated by the Federal Power Act explicitly recognizes regard for certain interests of the States as part of that national policy. This does not imply that general uncritical notions about so-called "States' rights" are to be read into what Congress has written. It does mean that we must adhere to the express Congressional mandate that the public interest which Page 328 U. S. 184 underlies the Federal Power Act involves the protection of particular matters of intimate concern to the people of the States in which proposed projects requiring the sanction of the Federal Power Commission are to be located. By § 9(b) of the Act, 41 Stat. 1063, 1068, 16 U.S.C. § 802(b), * Congress explicitly required that, before the Commission can issue a license for the construction of a hydroelectric development such as the proposed project of the petitioner, the Commission must have "satisfactory evidence that the applicant has complied with the requirements of the laws of the State" in reference to the matters enumerated.
To safeguard the interests of the States thus protected by § 9(b), Congress has directed that notice be given to the State when an application has been filed for a license, the granting of which may especially affect a State. § 4(f), 49 Stat. 838, 841, 16 U.S.C. § 767(f). If a State does not challenge the claim of an applicant, the evidence Page 328 U. S. 185 submitted by the applicant, if found to be satisfactory by the Commission, has met the demands of § 9(b), and a State cannot thereafter challenge the Commission's determination. But a real problem in administration is presented to the Power Commission when a State does intervene and claims that the applicant has not complied with its lawful requirements. For, before the Commission can meet the duty placed on it by § 9(b), it must ascertain the scope and meaning of the State law. Suppose the State law is not clear or is susceptible of different constructions and has received no construction by the only authoritative source for the interpretation of State laws -- namely, the highest court of the State. Must the Federal Power Commission give an independent interpretation of the laws of the State? This is not to suggest an unreal or hypothetical situation. The Federal Power Commission submitted here a compilation of laws relating to State requirements relevant under § 9(b) for not less than thirty States. Are the lawyers of the Commission to make themselves the originating interpreters of the laws of these States? Are they to construe, for instance, the laws of New Jersey and Oklahoma and Arizona and Illinois when the courts of those States have not spoken? And if they do and the State appeals from the decision, must the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia become the interpreter of these various laws? Finally, in the event of a further appellate review, is this Court to construe State legislation without guidance by the State courts? Time out of mind, and in a variety of situations, this Court has admonished against the avoidable assumption by this Court of the independent construction of State legislation. See, e.g., Gilchrist v. Interborough Rapid Transit Co., 279 U. S. 159, 279 U. S. 207-209; Brandeis, J., dissenting, in Railroad Comm'n v. Los Angeles R. Corp., 280 U. S. 145, 280 U. S. 158, 280 U. S. 164-166. It is pertinent to recall the classic statement of the reason for leaving to the controlling interpretation of local courts the meaning Page 328 U. S. 186 of local law:
151 F.2d 20. Even we cannot construe the requirements of Iowa law in the absence of a determination by the Iowa Supreme Court. And, in much more conventional types of litigation, we have evolved the procedure whereby federal litigation is stayed until the State law is authoritatively Page 328 U. S. 187 determined by a State court. E.g., Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U. S. 496; Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin, 323 U. S. 101; A.F. of L. v. Watson, 327 U. S. 582.
If it be said that the procedure for which the Federal Power Commission contends may take time, there is no Page 328 U. S. 188 assurance that a contested case like this will not take just as much time hereafter. The Commission must pass independently on an unconstrued State statute; its construction may then come before the Court of Appeals for the District, and eventually before this Court. Even then, the possibility remains that this Court's decision will be followed by one in the State court ruling, as has not been unknown, that this Court's interpretation was in error. In any event, mere speed is not test of justice. Deliberate speed is. Deliberate speed takes time. But it is time well spent.