306
Opinion of the Court
users, the Court again reaffirmed its longstanding doctrine upholding the States' power to regulate all direct in-state sales to consumers, even if such regulation resulted in an outright prohibition of competition for even the largest end users. Id., at 336-337; see also Panhandle-Indiana, supra (upholding state regulation of direct sales to large industrial users as not pre-empted by the NGA or precluded by the dormant Commerce Clause).14
The continuing importance of the States' interest in protecting the captive market from the effects of competition for the largest consumers is underscored by the common sense of our traditional recognition of the need to accommodate state health and safety regulation in applying dormant Commerce Clause principles. State regulation of natural gas sales to consumers serves important interests in health and safety in fairly obvious ways, in that requirements of dependable supply and extended credit assure that individual buyers of gas for domestic purposes are not frozen out of their houses in the cold months. We have consistently recognized the legitimate state pursuit of such interests as compatible with the Commerce Clause, which was " 'never intended to cut the States off from legislating on all subjects relating to the health, life, and safety of their citizens, though the legislation might indirectly affect the commerce of the country.' " Huron Portland Cement Co. v. Detroit, 362 U. S.
14 Under today's altered market structure, see supra, at 283-285, several Courts of Appeals have held that the NGA confers jurisdiction on FERC, rather than the States, to regulate such bypass arrangements for supplying gas to large industrial consumers when the sale of gas itself occurs outside the State and an interstate pipeline merely transports the gas to the industrial consumer for delivery in-state. See Cascade Natural Gas Corp. v. FERC, 955 F. 2d 1412, 1414-1422 (CA10 1992); Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. v. Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co., 887 F. 2d 1295, 1299- 1301 (CA6 1989), cert. denied, 494 U. S. 1079 (1990); Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. v. FERC, 883 F. 2d 117, 121-122 (CADC 1989), cert. denied, 494 U. S. 1079 (1990). We express no view on the correctness of these decisions.
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