Opinion ID: 2801043
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Navigability Determination

Text: The Districts first challenge FERC’s finding that La Grange is located on a navigable water of the United States. The Districts argue that FERC’s navigability finding is not supported by substantial evidence. They also argue that FERC failed to present credible evidence of the potential commercial use to which the Tuolumne River may be put. We disagree, and conclude that FERC reasonably found that the Tuolumne River is suitable for use in interstate commerce, and that this finding was supported by substantial evidence. Under the FPA, navigable waters are defined as: [T]hose parts of streams . . . which either in their natural or improved condition notwithstanding interruptions between the navigable parts of such streams or waters by falls, 11 shallows, or rapids compelling land carriage, are used or suitable for use for the transportation of persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce. 16 U.S.C. § 796(8). A waterway is navigable within that definition if “(1) it presently is being used or is suitable for use, or (2) it has been used or was suitable for use in the past, or (3) it could be made suitable for use in the future by reasonable improvements.” Rochester Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Federal Power Commission, 344 F.2d 594, 596 (2d Cir. 1965) (emphases in original); see also FPL Energy Maine Hydro LLC v. FERC, 287 F.3d 1151, 1155 (D.C. Cir. 2002) (same). “Navigability can be established based on any of these three requirements; each alone is sufficient.” FPL Energy, 287 F.3d at 1155. In making the determination of navigability of the Tuolumne, FERC relied on evidence bearing on each of the three. As to the present navigability, the Commission found that the Tuolumne River is presently navigable from its confluence with the navigable San Joaquin River at least to the La Grange Project tailrace—the channel carrying water away from the powerhouse—and with a short portage to the base of the La Grange Dam at RM 52.2. Turlock Irrigation Dist., 144 FERC ¶ 61,051 P 34. The evidence supporting this finding included a declaration submitted by the Trust reporting the experience of a kayaker who had navigated the waters from a point approximately 1.5 miles downstream of the La Grange Dam to the base of the Dam. Additionally, the Commission relied on evidence from the California Department of Fish and Game to the effect that the Department’s employees have traveled upstream to an area of the river just below the powerhouse. We have previously found “evidence of recreational use,” as well as evidence of “‘[a]ny similar personal or private use not involving recreation,’” relevant to establishing a river’s “‘suitability for commercial navigation.’” FPL Energy, 287 12 F.3d at 1157 (quoting Kennebec Water District, 88 FERC ¶ 61,118, 61,304 (July 28, 1999)). As the Supreme Court has recognized, “personal or private use by boats demonstrates the availability of the stream for the simpler types of commercial navigation.” U.S. v. Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 311 U.S. 377, 416 (1940). The governmental boat use provides sufficient evidence that the River is currently navigable. The evidence in the record establishes that between October 2011 and January 2012, California DFG crews conducted weekly salmon surveys, generally traveling upstream to RM 51.5, and at times as far as RM 51.9, a point upstream of the Project’s tailrace. Joint Appendix 358–60. This evidence of weekly trips is more substantial than the evidence of boating we found sufficient in FPL Energy. 287 F.3d at 1159 (concluding that “[three] test canoe trips provide sufficient evidence that the Stream is navigable”); see also Montana Power Co. v. Federal Power Commission, 185 F.2d 491, 493–94 (D.C. Cir. 1950) (concluding that use of the river by “several steamboats” was sufficient to support a navigability finding). The Districts contend that FERC was required to demonstrate “that the river between the Powerhouse and Dam” was navigable. Districts’ Br. 12. We disagree. The FPA does not require FERC to show that the river is navigable “through the La Grange site,” Districts’ Reply Br. 5 (emphasis added), only that some part of the project is located on navigable waters, see 16 U.S.C. § 817(1) (requiring licensing if the “dam, water conduit, reservoir, power house, or other works incidental thereto,” are located “in any of the navigable waters of the United States” (emphasis added)). The tailrace is one of the project works that make up the La Grange Project. See Report of Turlock Irrigation District to FERC on the La Grange Project at 1 (Oct. 11, 2011), Joint Appendix 72 (listing the tailrace as part of the La Grange Project); see also 16 U.S.C. § 796(12) (defining “project works” as the “physical structures of a 13 project”). Therefore, FERC need only show that the river up to the tailrace is navigable in order to assert jurisdiction over the La Grange Project. See, e.g., Sheldon Jackson College, 54 FERC ¶ 61,263, 61,763–61,764 (Mar. 8, 1991) (licensing required where only a hydroelectric project’s tailrace was located on navigable waters). The Commission also found that the Tuolumne was navigable in the past at least up to the falls where the La Grange Dam is now located. This finding was based on an 1850 Stockton Times article, which stated that during the winter of 1849, gold seekers used whale boats to travel up the Tuolumne River as far as Jacksonville, a town located 20 miles upstream of the La Grange Dam. The Commission also relied upon an 1851 finding by the California legislature that the Tuolumne was navigable up to the “foot of the rapids” that then existed at the present day site of the La Grange Dam. Turlock Irrigation Dist., 144 FERC ¶ 61,051, PP 57–64. The Districts argue that the 1850 newspaper article FERC used to establish that whaleboats traveled up the Tuolumne River is unreliable as it conflicts with the Districts’ expert report discussing the physical characteristics of the River in 1850. They also argue that FERC’s reliance on the 1851 findings of the California legislature that the Tuolumne River was navigable up to the “foot of the rapids” was misplaced because “[s]tate law is not determinative of navigability under federal law,” State of Wisconsin v. Federal Power Commission, 214 F.2d 334, 336–37 (7th Cir. 1954), and because the California legislature later changed its findings and moved the head of navigation downstream. In disputing the reliability of the 1850 newspaper article, the Districts rely on the expert report of their historian, which states that based on “the falls at La Grange, the river gradient, upstream falls or rapids and the topography of the river canyon 14 that would have made portaging extremely difficult . . . it seems safe to conclude that navigation by whale boats above La Grange was virtually impossible.” Report of Dr. Alan Paterson at 12, Joint Appendix 302 (emphasis added). As we stated above, FERC need only show that the river was navigable up to the Project’s tailrace. Accordingly, the Districts’ contention that the river above the falls was non-navigable does not undermine FERC’s conclusion that the river was navigable in the past up to the La Grange Dam. See Turlock Irrig. Dist., 144 FERC ¶ 61,051 P 60 (“[I]t is sufficient to find, as we do here, that the river was navigable in the past at least up to the falls, where the La Grange Dam is now located.”). The Districts are correct that the 1851 findings of the California legislature are not determinative of navigability under federal law. See Brewer-Elliott Oil & Gas Co. v. U.S., 260 U.S. 77, 87 (1922) (“[T]he navigability of the stream is not a local question for the state tribunals to settle.”). Indeed, fundamental to our system of government is the notion that the laws of the United States “form the supreme law of the land, ‘anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.’” M’Culloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 406 (1819) (quoting U.S. CONST. art. VI, cl. 2). But this point is not dispositive, as nothing prevents FERC from citing state navigability determinations as evidence of the historic navigability of a river for federal law purposes. Nor does evidence that the California legislature later amended its determination defeat a finding of navigability. “When once found to be navigable, a waterway remains so.” Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 311 U.S. at 408. FERC’s evidence of historic navigability is not overwhelming. Nor is it so compelling as to completely foreclose any argument that the River was non-navigable. But evidence of past navigability need not be large to sustain a finding of navigability. See id. at 416. When viewed as a whole, the evidence is sufficient to support FERC’s finding that 15 the River was used in the past up to the falls where La Grange is now located. Lastly, the Districts argue that FERC failed to present credible evidence of the potential commercial use to which the Tuolumne River may be put. This argument also fails. We have previously rejected the notion that “FERC’s navigability test was flawed because FERC failed to identify the possible commercial use to which the Stream may be put.” FPL Energy, 287 F.3d at 1158. As we explained, “[t]he test is whether the waterway is presently ‘suitable for use for the transportation of persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce,’ not whether the waterway is presently suitable for a specific type of commercial activity named by FERC and approved of by an opposing party.” Id. (quoting 16 U.S.C. § 796(8)). To uphold FERC’s navigability determination, “we need only find that the evidence on which the finding is based is substantial.” FPL Energy, 287 F.3d at 1160. The “substantial evidence” standard “requires more than a scintilla, but can be satisfied by something less than a preponderance of the evidence.” Id. We conclude that FERC’s evidence of actual use in the past, together with current use of the Tuolumne River by California DFG crews, constitutes substantial evidence supporting FERC’s finding that La Grange is located on a navigable water of the United States.