Entergy Louisiana, Inc. v. Louisiana Public Service Commission, 539 U.S. 39, 8 (2003)

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46

ENTERGY LA., INC. v. LOUISIANA PUB. SERV. COMM'N

Opinion of the Court

without violating the [S]upremacy [C]lause insofar as that decision affects retail rates." Id., at 65a.

The LPSC concluded that the operating committee's treatment of ERS units after August 5, 1997, was imprudent and that ELI's MSS-1 payments would not be considered when setting ELI's retail rates in Louisiana. In other words, though ELI made the MSS-1 payments to its "long" corporate siblings, it would not be allowed to recoup those costs in its retail rates.4

ELI petitioned for review of the LPSC's decision in State District Court. That petition was denied, and ELI appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which upheld the LPSC's decision. 2001-1725 (La. 4/3/02), 815 So. 2d 27. The Supreme Court of Louisiana held that the LPSC's order was not barred by federal pre-emption because the LPSC was not "attempting to regulate interstate wholesale rates" or "challeng[ing] the validity of the FERC's declination to order refunds of amounts paid in violation of the System Agreement prior to the amendment." Id., at 38. Further, the court reasoned, "FERC never ruled on the issue of whether ELI's decision to continue to include the ERS units [after August 5, 1997, was] a prudent one" or made "it mandatory for the [operating committee] to include the ERS units in its MSS-1 calculations." Ibid.

We granted ELI's petition for writ of certiorari to address whether the Court's decisions in Nantahala and MP&L lead to federal pre-emption of the LPSC's order. 537 U. S. 1152 (2003). We hold that Nantahala and MP&L "res[t] on a foundation that is broad enough," MP&L, 487 U. S., at 369, to require pre-emption of the order in this case.

4 The MSS-1 payments that were disallowed were, in fact, those made in 1996, which were to be used in calculating 1997-1998 retail rates by the LPSC. App. to Pet. for Cert. 76a.

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