Public Service Commission of the State of New York v. Mid-louisiana Gas Co. et al. (463 U.S. 319)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 28, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 463 U.S. 319 · 103 S. Ct. 3024
- Decided
- June 28, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. By enacting the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA), 92 Stat. 3350, 15 U. S. C. §3301 et seq. (1976 ed., Supp. V), Congress comprehensively and dramatically changed the method of pricing natural gas produced in the United States. In Title I of that Act, Congress defined eight categories of natural gas production, specified the maximum lawful price that may be charged for “first sales” in each category, and prescribed rules for increasing first sale prices each month and passing them on to downstream purchasers. The question presented in these cases is whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the authority to exclude from this scheme most of the gas produced from wells owned by interstate pipelines and to prescribe a different method of setting prices for that gas. The answer is provided by the Act’s definition of a “first sale” and by the scheme of the entire NGPA. Respondents are interstate pipeline companies that transport natural gas from the wellhead to consumers. They purchase most of their gas from independent producers. In addition, they acquire a significant amount of gas from wells that they own themselves or that their affiliates own. Gas from all three sources is usually commingled in the pipelines before being delivered to their customers downstream. Thus, at the time of delivery it is often…
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