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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 46', '§ 46', '§ 46', '§ 46', '§ 46', '§ 46']

Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas (full text) :: 458 U.S. 941 (1982) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
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Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas 458 U.S. 941 (1982)
U.S. Supreme CourtSporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 458 U.S. 941 (1982)Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. DouglasNo. 81-613Argued March 30, 1982Decided July 2, 1982458 U.S. 941APPEAL FROM SUPREME COURT OF NEBRASKA
2. The reciprocity requirement of the Nebraska statute violates the Commerce Clause as imposing an impermissible burden on interstate Page 458 U. S. 942 commerce. While the first three conditions set forth in the statute for granting a permit -- that the withdrawal of the groundwater be reasonable, not contrary to the conservation and use of groundwater, and not otherwise detrimental to the public welfare -- do not, on their faces, impermissibly burden interstate commerce, the reciprocity provision operates as an explicit barrier to commerce between Nebraska and its adjoining States. Nebraska therefore has the initial burden of demonstrating a close fit between the reciprocity requirement and its asserted local purpose. Such requirement, when superimposed on the first three restrictions, fails to clear this initial hurdle, since there is no evidence that it is narrowly tailored to the conservation and preservation rationale. Thus, it does not survive the "strictest scrutiny" reserved for facially discriminatory legislation. Pp. 458 U. S. 954-958.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. REHNQUIST, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which O'CONNOR, J., joined, post, p. 458 U. S. 961. Page 458 U. S. 943
Appellants challenge the constitutionality of a Nebraska statutory restriction on the withdrawal of groundwater from any well within Nebraska intended for use in an adjoining State. The challenge presents three questions under the Commerce Clause: [Footnote 1] (1) whether groundwater is an article of commerce and therefore subject to congressional regulation; (2) whether the Nebraska restriction on the interstate transfer of groundwater imposes an impermissible burden on commerce; and (3) whether Congress has granted the States permission to engage in groundwater regulation that otherwise would be impermissible. Page 458 U. S. 944
Appellee brought this action to enjoin appellants from transferring the water across the border without a permit. [Footnote 2] The trial court rejected the defense that the statute imposed an undue burden on interstate commerce and granted the injunction. The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed. 208 Neb. 703, 305 N.W.2d 614 (1981). It held that, under Nebraska law, groundwater is not "a market item freely transferable for value among private parties, and therefore [is] not an article of commerce." Id. at 705, 305 N.W.2d at Page 458 U. S. 945 616. [Footnote 3] The Chief Justice, while agreeing that the statutory criteria governing the transfer of water to an adjoining State did not violate the Commerce Clause, dissented on the narrow ground that appellee violated both the Federal and Nebraska Constitutions by attempting
In holding that groundwater is not an article of commerce, the Nebraska Supreme Court and appellee cite as controlling precedent Hudson County Water Co. v. McCarter, 209 U. S. 349 (1908). In that case, a New Jersey statute prohibited the interstate transfer of any surface water located within the State. [Footnote 4] The Hudson County Water Co. nevertheless contracted with New York City to supply one of its boroughs with water from the Passaic River in New Jersey. The State Attorney General sought from the New Jersey courts an injunction against fulfillment of the contract. Over the water company's objections that the statute impaired the obligation of contract, took property without just compensation, interfered with interstate commerce, denied New York citizens the privileges afforded New Jersey citizens, and denied New York citizens the equal protection of the laws, the injunction was granted. This Court, in an opinion by Justice Holmes, affirmed. Page 458 U. S. 946
Having disposed of the just compensation claim, Justice Holmes turned very briefly to the other constitutional challenges. Page 458 U. S. 947 In one paragraph, he rejected the Contract Clause claim. In the remaining paragraph of the opinion, he rejected all the other defenses. His treatment of the Commerce Clause challenge consists of three sentences:
The city relied upon West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 221 U. S. 229 (1911), which invalidated an Oklahoma statute that prevented the interstate transfer of natural gas produced within the State, [Footnote 8] and Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U. S. 553 (1923), which invalidated a West Virginia statute Page 458 U. S. 948 that accorded a preference to the citizens of that State in the purchase of natural gas produced therein. [Footnote 9] The Texas Attorney General defended the statute on two grounds. First, he asserted that its purpose was to conserve and protect the State's water resources by regulating the withdrawal of groundwater. The District Court rejected that defense because similar conservation claims had met defeat in West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., supra, and Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, supra. [Footnote 10] Second, the State argued that the statute regulated groundwater, and that groundwater is not an article of commerce, citing Geer v. Connecticut, 161 U. S. 519 (1896), and Hudson County Water Co. v. McCarter, 209 U. S. 349 (1908). The court rejected this argument, since the statute directly regulated the interstate transportation of Page 458 U. S. 949 water that had been pumped from the ground, and, under Texas law, such water was an article of commerce. The court then had little difficulty in concluding that the statute imposed an impermissible burden on interstate commerce. [Footnote 11]
255 F.Supp. at 833, n. 8. Since groundwater, once withdrawn, may be freely bought and sold in States that follow this rule, in those States, groundwater is appropriately regarded Page 458 U. S. 950 as an article of commerce. In Nebraska, the surface owner has no comparable interest in groundwater. As explained by the Nebraska Supreme Court,
City of Altus, however, is inconsistent with Hudson County. For in the latter case, the Court found Geer v. Connecticut, supra, to be controlling on the Commerce Clause issue. Geer, which sustained a Connecticut ban on the interstate transportation of game birds captured in that State, was premised on the theory that the State owned its wild animals, and therefore was free to qualify any ownership interest it might recognize in the persons who capture them. One such restriction is a prohibition against interstate transfer of the captured animals. This theory of public ownership was advanced as a defense in City of Altus. The State argued that it owned all subterranean water, and therefore could recognize ownership in the surface owner who withdraws the water, but restrict that ownership to use of the water within the State. That theory, upon which the Commerce Clause issue in Hudson County was decided, was rejected by the District Court in City of Altus. [Footnote 12] In expressly Page 458 U. S. 951 overruling Geer three years ago, this Court traced the demise of the public ownership theory and definitively recast it as
Appellee insists, however, that Nebraska water is distinguishable from other natural resources. The surface owner who withdraws Nebraska groundwater enjoys a lesser ownership interest in the water than the captor of game birds in Connecticut or minnows in Oklahoma or groundwater in Texas, for in Geer, Hughes, and City of Altus, the States permitted intrastate trade in the natural resources once they were captured. Although appellee's greater ownership interest may not be irrelevant to Commerce Clause analysis, it does not absolutely remove Nebraska groundwater from such scrutiny. For appellee's argument is still based on the legal fiction of state ownership. The fiction is illustrated by municipal water supply arrangements pursuant to which groundwater is withdrawn from rural areas and transferred to urban areas. Such arrangements are permitted in Nebraska, see Metropolitan Utilities District v. Merritt Beach Co., 179 Neb. 783, 140 N.W.2d 626 (1966), but the Nebraska Supreme Court distinguished them on the ground that the Page 458 U. S. 952 transferor was only permitted to charge as a price for the water his costs of distribution and not the value of the water itself. 208 Neb. at 708, 305 N.W.2d at 618. Unless demand is greater than supply, however, this reasoning does not distinguish minnows, the price of which presumably is derived from the costs of seining and of transporting the catch to market. Even in cases of shortage, in which the seller of the natural resource can demand a price that exceeds his costs, the State's rate structure that requires the price to be cost-justified is economically comparable to price regulation. A State's power to regulate prices or rates has never been thought to depend on public ownership of the controlled commodity. It would be anomalous if federal power to regulate economic transactions in natural resources depended on the characterization of the payment as compensation for distribution services, on the one hand, or as the price of goods, on the other. Cf. In re Rahrer, 140 U. S. 545, 140 U. S. 558 (1891).
The second asserted distinction is that water, unlike other natural resources, is essential for human survival. Appellee, and the amici curiae that are vitally interested in conserving and preserving scarce water resources in the arid Western States, have convincingly demonstrated the desirability of state and local management of groundwater. [Footnote 13] Page 458 U. S. 953 But the States' interests clearly have an interstate dimension. Although water is indeed essential for human survival, studies indicate that over 80% of our water supplies is used for agricultural purposes. [Footnote 14] The agricultural markets supplied by irrigated farms are worldwide. They provide the archtypical example of commerce among the several States for which the Framers of our Constitution intended to authorize federal regulation. The multistate character of the Ogallala aquifer -- underlying appellants' tracts of land in Colorado and Nebraska, as well as parts of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas [Footnote 15] -- confirms the view that there is a significant federal interest in conservation, as well as in fair allocation, of this diminishing resource. Cf. Arizona v. California, 373 U. S. 546 (1963).
The Western States' interests, and their asserted superior competence, in conserving and preserving scarce water resources are not irrelevant in the Commerce Clause inquiry. Nor is appellee's claim to public ownership without significance. Like Congress' deference to state water law, see infra, at 458 U. S. 958-960, these factors inform the determination whether the burdens on commerce imposed by state groundwater regulation are reasonable or unreasonable. But appellee's claim that Nebraska groundwater is not an article of commerce goes too far: it would not only exempt Nebraska groundwater regulation from burden-on-commerce analysis, it would also curtail the affirmative power of Congress to implement its own policies concerning such regulation. See Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U. S. 617, 437 U. S. 621-623 (1978). If Congress chooses to legislate in this area under its commerce power, its regulation need not be more limited in Nebraska than in Texas and States with similar property laws. Page 458 U. S. 954 Ground water overdraft is a national problem, and Congress has the power to deal with it on that scale.
The only purpose that appellee advances for § 46-613.01 is to conserve and preserve diminishing sources of groundwater. The purpose is unquestionably legitimate and highly important, [Footnote 16] and the other aspects of Nebraska's groundwater Page 458 U. S. 955 regulation demonstrate that it is genuine. Appellants' land in Nebraska is located within the boundaries of the Upper Republican Ground Water Control Area, which was designated as such by the Director of the Nebraska Department of Water Resources based upon a determination that there is "[a]n inadequate groundwater supply to meet present or reasonably foreseeable needs for beneficial use of such water supply." Neb.Rev.Stat. § 46-658(1) (Supp.1981); see App. 56-60. Pursuant to § 46-666(1), the Upper Republican Natural Resources District has promulgated special rules and regulations governing groundwater withdrawal and use. See App. 61-82. The rules and regulations define as "critical" those townships in the control area in which the annual decline of the groundwater table exceeds a fixed percentage; appellants' Nebraska tract is located within a critical township. The rules and regulations require the installation of flow meters on every well within the control area, specify the amount of water per acre that may be used for irrigation, and set the spacing that is required between wells. They also strictly limit the intrastate transfer of groundwater: transfers are only permitted between lands controlled by the same groundwater user, and all transfers must be approved by the District Board of Directors. Id. at 68-69.
Although Commerce Clause concerns are implicated by the fact that § 46-613.01 applies to interstate transfers but not to intrastate transfers, there are legitimate reasons for the special treatment accorded requests to transport groundwater across state lines. Obviously, a State that imposes severe Page 458 U. S. 956 withdrawal and use restrictions on its own citizens is not discriminating against interstate commerce when it seeks to prevent the uncontrolled transfer of water out of the State. An exemption for interstate transfers would be inconsistent with the ideal of evenhandedness in regulation. At least in the area in which appellants' Nebraska tract is located, the first three standards of § 46-613.01 may well be no more strict in application than the limitations upon intrastate transfers imposed by the Upper Republican Natural Resources District.
Moreover, in the absence of a contrary view expressed by Congress, we are reluctant to condemn, as unreasonable, measures taken by a State to conserve and preserve for its own citizens this vital resource in times of severe shortage. Our reluctance stems from the "confluence of [several] realities." Hicklin v. Orbeck, 437 U. S. 518, 437 U. S. 534 (1978). First, a State's power to regulate the use of water in times and places of shortage for the purpose of protecting the health of its citizens -- and not simply the health of its economy -- is at the core of its police power. For Commerce Clause purposes, we have long recognized a difference between economic protectionism, on the one hand, and health and safety regulation, on the other. See H. P. Hood & Sons v. Du Mond, 336 U. S. 525, 336 U. S. 533 (1949). Second, the legal expectation that, under certain circumstances, each State may restrict water within its borders has been fostered over the years not only by our equitable apportionment decrees, see, e.g., Wyoming v. Colorado, 353 U. S. 953 (1957), but also by the negotiation and enforcement of interstate compacts. Our law therefore has recognized the relevance of state boundaries in the allocation of scarce water resources. Third, although appellee's claim to public ownership of Nebraska groundwater cannot justify a total denial of federal regulatory power, it may support a limited preference for its own citizens in the utilization of the resource. See Hicklin v. Orbeck, supra, at 437 U. S. 533-534. In this regard, it is relevant that appellee's claim is logically Page 458 U. S. 957 more substantial than claims to public ownership of other natural resources. See supra at 458 U. S. 950-951. Finally, given appellee's conservation efforts, the continuing availability of groundwater in Nebraska is not simply happenstance; the natural resource has some indicia of a good publicly produced and owned in which a State may favor its own citizens in times of shortage. See Reeves, Inc. v. Stake, 447 U. S. 429 (1980); cf. Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. at 437 U. S. 627-628, and n. 6; Baldwin v. Montana Fish and Game Comm'n, 436 U. S. 371 (1978). A facial examination of the first three conditions set forth in § 46-613.01 does not, therefore, indicate that they impermissibly burden interstate commerce. Appellants, indeed, seem to concede their reasonableness.
The reciprocity requirement fails to clear this initial hurdle. For there is no evidence that this restriction is narrowly Page 458 U. S. 958 tailored to the conservation and preservation rationale. Even though the supply of water in a particular well may be abundant, or perhaps even excessive, and even though the most beneficial use of that water might be in another State, such water may not be shipped into a neighboring State that does not permit its water to be used in Nebraska. If it could be shown that the State as a whole suffers a water shortage, that the intrastate transportation of water from areas of abundance to areas of shortage is feasible regardless of distance, and that the importation of water from adjoining States would roughly compensate for any exportation to those States, then the conservation and preservation purpose might be credibly advanced for the reciprocity provision. A demonstrably arid State conceivably might be able to marshal evidence to establish a close means-end relationship between even a total ban on the exportation of water and a purpose to conserve and preserve water. Appellee, however, does not claim that such evidence exists. We therefore are not persuaded that the reciprocity requirement -- when superimposed on the first three restrictions in the statute -- significantly advances the State's legitimate conservation and preservation interest; it surely is not narrowly tailored to serve that purpose. The reciprocity requirement does not survive the "strictest scrutiny" reserved for facially discriminatory legislation. Hughes v. Oklahoma, supra, at 441 U. S. 337. [Footnote 18]
Appellee's suggestion that Congress has authorized the States to impose otherwise impermissible burdens on interstate commerce in groundwater is not well founded. The suggestion is based on 37 statutes in which Congress has deferred to state water law, and on a number of interstate compacts dealing with water that have been approved by Congress. Page 458 U. S. 959
Although the 37 statutes and the interstate compacts demonstrate Congress' deference to state water law, [Footnote 19] they do not Page 458 U. S. 960 indicate that Congress wished to remove federal constitutional constraints on such state laws. The negative implications of the Commerce Clause, like the mandates of the Fourteenth Amendment, are ingredients of the valid state law to which Congress has deferred. Neither the fact that Congress has chosen not to create a federal water law to govern water rights involved in federal projects, nor the fact that Congress has been willing to let the States settle their differences over water rights through mutual agreement, [Footnote 20] constitutes persuasive evidence that Congress consented to the unilateral imposition of unreasonable burdens on commerce. In the instances in which we have found such consent, Congress' "intent and policy' to sustain state legislation from attack under the Commerce Clause" was "`expressly stated.'" New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, supra, at 455 U. S. 343 (quoting Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin, 328 U. S. 408, 328 U. S. 427 (1946)). [Footnote 21] Cf. Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U. S. 130, 455 U. S. 155, n. 21 (1982).
It is so ordered. Page 458 U. S. 961
Thus, the authority of Congress under the power to regulate interstate commerce may reach a good deal further than Page 458 U. S. 962 the mere negative impact of the Commerce Clause in the absence of any action by Congress. Upon a showing that groundwater overdraft has a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce, for example, Congress arguably could regulate groundwater overdraft, even if groundwater is not an "article of commerce" itself. See, e.g., Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., 452 U. S. 264, 452 U. S. 281-283 (1981); id. at 452 U. S. 310-313 (REHNQUIST, J., concurring in judgment); Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U. S. 111 (1942). It is therefore wholly unnecessary to decide whether Congress could regulate groundwater overdraft in order to decide this case; since Congress has not undertaken such a regulation, I would leave the determination of its validity until such time as it is necessary to decide that question.
"This is a suit by a State for an injury to it in its capacity of quasi-sovereign. In that capacity, the State has an interest independent of and behind the titles of its citizens, in all the earth and air within its domain. It has the last word as to whether its mountains shall be stripped of their forests and its inhabitants shall breathe pure air. "Page 458 U. S. 963
Of course, a State may not discriminate against interstate commerce when it regulates even such a resource. If the State allows indiscriminate intrastate commercial dealings in a particular resource, it may have a difficult task proving that an outright prohibition on interstate commercial dealings is not such a discrimination. I had thought that this was the basis for this Court's decisions in Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U. S. 322 (1979), Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U. S. 553 (1923), and West v. Kansas Natural Gas Co., 221 U. S. 229 (1911). In each case, the State permitted a natural resource to be reduced to private possession, permitted an intrastate market to exist in that resource, and either barred interstate commerce entirely or granted its residents a commercial preference. [Footnote 2/1] Page 458 U. S. 964
Nebraska places additional restrictions on groundwater users within certain areas, such as the portion of appellants' land situated in Nebraska, where the shortage of groundwater is determined to be critical. Water users in appellants' district are permitted only to irrigate the acreage irrigated in 1977, or the average number of acres irrigated between 1972 and 1976, whichever is greater, and must obtain permission from the water district's board before any Page 458 U. S. 965 additional acreage may be placed under irrigation. The amount of groundwater that may be extracted is strictly limited on an acre-inch-per-irrigated-acre basis. There are also detailed regulations as to the spacing of wells and the use and operation of flow meters. Id. at 71-82.