General Motors Corp. v. Tracy, 519 U.S. 278, 15 (1997)

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292

GENERAL MOTORS CORP. v. TRACY

Opinion of the Court

Commission (FPC) to begin regulating interstate pipelines. Congress's purpose in enacting the NGA was to fill the regulatory void created by the Court's earlier decisions prohibiting States from regulating interstate transportation and sales for resale of natural gas, while at the same time leaving undisturbed the recognized power of the States to regulate all in-state gas sales directly to consumers. Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of Ind., 332 U. S. 507, 516-522 (1947). Thus, the NGA "was drawn with meticulous regard for the continued exercise of state power, not to handicap or dilute it in any way," id., at 517-518; "the scheme was one of cooperative action between federal and state agencies" to "protect consumers against exploitation at the hands of natural gas companies," id., at 520 (internal quotation marks omitted); and "Congress' action . . . was an unequivocal recognition of the vital interests of the states and their people, consumers and industry alike, in the regulation of rates and service," id., at 521; see also Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. v. Michigan Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 341 U. S. 329, 334 (1951) ("Direct sales [of natural gas] for consumptive use were designedly left to state regulation" by the NGA). Indeed, the Court has construed § 1(b) of the NGA as altogether exempting state regulation of in-state retail sales of natural gas from attack under the dormant Commerce Clause:

"The declaration [in the NGA], though not identical in terms with the one made by the McCarran Act, 59 Stat. 33, 15 U. S. C. § 1011, concerning continued state regulation of the insurance business, is in effect equally clear, in view of the [NGA's] historical setting, legislative history and objects, to show intention for the states to continue with regulation where Congress has not expressly taken over. Cf. Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin, 328 U. S. 408 [(1946) (upholding discriminatory state taxation of out-of-state insurance companies as authorized

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