Opinion ID: 1495233
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Power of Congress to Require the License.

Text: In the Power Act, Congress substituted administrative for direct legislative and judicial control, i. e. instead of forbidding absolutely the construction of dams in navigable waters or dams which would affect the navigable capacity of navigable waters, it set up an administrative tribunal and authorized it to license the construction of such dams when found to be in the public interest. There can be no question as to the power of Congress to prohibit absolutely the construction or operation of dams which will interfere with navigation in a navigable stream whether the dam itself be located in a stream which is navigable or non-navigable. United States v. Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U.S. 690, 19 S.Ct. 770, 775, 43 L.Ed. 1136. The existence of private rights is no more an impediment to the exercise of federal power in the one case than in the other; for, in either case, private rights are held subject to the paramount power of Congress to protect the public interest in interstate commerce, by forbidding any construction that would interfere therewith. Nor does this involve infringement of the rights of the states protected by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, U.S.C.A. As said by the Supreme Court in the Rio Grande case, where rights were asserted under a law of New Mexico to divert waters of the Rio Grande in the non-navigable section of the river: Although this power of changing the common-law rule as to streams within its dominion undoubtedly belongs to each state, yet two limitations must be recognized:    second, that it is limited by the superior power of the general government to secure the uninterrupted navigability of all navigable streams within the limits of the United States. In other words, the jurisdiction of the general government over interstate commerce and its natural highways vests in that government the right to take all needed measures to preserve the navigability of the navigable water courses of the country, even against any state action.    It is urged that the true construction of this act limits its applicability to obstructions in the navigable portion of a navigable stream, and that as it appears that, although the Rio Grande may be navigable for a certain distance above its mouth, it is not navigable in the territory of New Mexico, this statute has no applicability. The language is general, and must be given full scope. It is not a prohibition of any obstruction to the navigation, but any obstruction to the navigable capacity, and anything, wherever done or however done, within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States, which tends to destroy the navigable capacity of one of the navigable waters of the United States, is within the terms of the prohibition. Evidently congress perceiving that the time had come when the growing interests of commerce required that the navigable waters of the United States should be subjected to the direct control of the national government, and that nothing should be done by any state tending to destroy that navigability without the explicit assent of the national government, enacted the statute in question; and it would be to improperly ignore the scope of this language to limit it to the acts done within the very limits of navigation of a navigable stream. But the power of Congress is not limited to prohibition of obstructions to interstate commerce. Possessing full power of control in the premises, it may intrust to an administrative agency the regulation and licensing of structures which it has the power to prohibit. And I see no objection to exacting as a condition of the licenses granted a requirement as to the rates to be charged for electric power to be manufactured by the licensees or an option on the part of the government to purchase either at cost or market value. The water power of the streams of the country is one of the most valuable of the natural resources of the people. It does not belong as a matter of private right to the owners of power sites, but can be enjoyed by them only if the government consents to the obstruction or interference with the streams involved in the erection of dams. It is but fitting that the government, which holds its power for the benefit of the whole people, prescribe as a condition of its consent to the erection of such dams that the people shall derive a benefit from the concessions granted, to the extent of being accorded reasonable rates upon the product of the enterprise. And, since no one can foresee the future, or prophesy to what extent such obstructions may become undesirable from the standpoint of the public interest, it is proper that the license for their maintenance be limited and that provision be made for their purchase by the public. The exaction of the right on the part of the government to acquire the project upon the terms contained in the license is in no sense a denial of due process, but is the price exacted by the government for the granting of a permission which it has the right to withhold. Fox River Paper Co. v. Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, 274 U.S. 651, 47 S.Ct. 669, 71 L.Ed. 1279. Nor is it any objection that ownership by the government of the power project may result from such acquisition. If the government may build a power project itself in connection with regulating the navigability of streams, as held in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688, there can be no objection to its licensing another to build the project with a view of subsequent acquisition by the government. If the stream at the dam site be held navigable, there can be no question as to the power of Congress to construct a dam and power project there in aid of navigation. Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, supra. And it is equally clear that, even if it be non-navigable, it may construct such dam and power project for purposes of flood control in streams below. United States v. West Virginia Power Co., 4 Cir., 91 F.2d 611. What the government may thus do itself, it may license a private corporation to do upon such terms and conditions as, in the opinion of Congress, the public interest may require. Much has been said about the effect of the findings of the Federal Power Commission, but I do not think it necessary to go into this. Assuming that the questions thus raised are jurisdictional and go to the constitutional validity of the action of the Commission, so that they are subject to full review under the doctrine of Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 52 S.Ct. 285, 76 L.Ed. 598, I think that the record before the court below fully justifies the Commission's action and that the injunction prayed by the government should be awarded. As a practical matter, this does not mean, of course, that the defendant will be enjoined from constructing or operating the dam, but merely that, as a condition of such construction and operation, it be required to accept the license tendered by the Commission. There are certain facts in this case which cannot be overlooked. Defendant is constructing one of the thirty largest power dams in the United States, and is constructing it at a place where the river unquestionably has been used as a highway of interstate commerce and has been improved for that purpose by the expenditure of federal funds. The river at the site of the dam has been found a navigable water of the United States by a commission appointed by Congress to deal with such matters and acting under oath in the discharge of a public duty. Even if the river be held non-navigable at the site of the dam, there can be no question but that the operation of the dam will affect the navigability of the stream between Glen Lyn, Va. and Hinton, W. Va., which is navigable within any test which the Supreme Court has prescribed. And, in addition to all this, the construction of dams in New River will vitally affect flood control in the Ohio and thereby affect navigation in that great highway of commerce. Under such circumstances, I cannot agree that the federal government is without power to require a license of defendant as a condition of the construction of the dam, or that the government must await actual interference with existing commerce before taking action.