American Paper Institute, Inc. v. American Electric Power Service Corp. et al. (461 U.S. 402)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 16, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 461 U.S. 402 · 103 S. Ct. 1921
- Decided
- May 16, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Marshall
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns two rules promulgated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to §210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), 92 Stat. 3144, as amended, 16 U. S. C. §824a-8 (1976 ed., Supp. V). The first rule requires electric utilities to purchase electric energy from cogenerators and small power producers at a rate equal to the purchasing utility’s fall avoided cost, i. e., the cost the utility would have incurred had it generated the electricity itself or purchased the electricity from another source. The second rule requires utilities to make such interconnections with cogenerators and small power producers as are necessary to effect purchases or sales of electricity authorized by PURPA. The Court of Appeals held that FERC had not adequately explained its adoption of the full-avoided-cost rule, and that it exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating the interconnection rule. 219 U. S. App. D. C. 1, 675 F. 2d 1226 (1982). We reverse. I A Section 210 of PURPA was designed to encourage the development of cogeneration and small power production facilities. As we noted in FERC v. Mississippi, 456 U. S. 742, 750 (1982) (footnote omitted), “Congress believed that increased use of these sources of energy would reduce the demand for traditional fossil fuels,” and it recognized…
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