40
Opinion of the Court
v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1, 13 (1890). It thus accords the States the respect owed them as members of the federation." Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., 506 U. S. 139, 146 (1993).
Bistate entities occupy a significantly different position in our federal system than do the States themselves. The States, as separate sovereigns, are the constituent elements of the Union. Bistate entities, in contrast, typically are creations of three discrete sovereigns: two States and the Federal Government.10 Their mission is to address " 'interests and problems that do not coincide nicely either with the national boundaries or with State lines' "—interests that " 'may be badly served or not served at all by the ordinary channels of National or State political action.' " V. Thursby, Interstate Cooperation: A Study of the Interstate Compact 5 (1953) (quoting National Resources Committee, Regional Factors in National Planning and Development 34 (1935)); see Grad, Federal-State Compact: A New Experiment in Cooperative Federalism, 63 Colum. L. Rev. 825, 854-855 (1963) (Compact Clause entities formed to deal with "broad, region-wide problems" should not be regarded as "an affirmation of a narrow concept of state sovereignty," but as "independently functioning parts of a regional polity and of a national union.").
A compact accorded congressional consent "is more than a supple device for dealing with interests confined within a region. . . . [I]t is also a means of safeguarding the national interest . . . ." West Virginia ex rel. Dyer v. Sims, 341 U. S. 22, 27 (1951). The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey exemplifies both the need for, and the utility of, Compact Clause entities:
10 If the creation of a bistate entity does not implicate federal concerns, however, federal consent is not required. See Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. 503, 517-520 (1893).
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