Cite as: 519 U. S. 278 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
has created and preserved the local monopolies.13 The clear
implication is that Congress finds the benefits of the bundled product for captive local buyers well within the realm of what the States may reasonably promote and preserve.
This Court has also recognized the importance of avoiding any jeopardy to service of the state-regulated captive market, and in circumstances remarkably similar to those of the present case. In Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. v. Michigan Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 341 U. S. 329 (1951), Ford Motor Company had entered a contract with an interstate pipeline for supply of gas at Ford's plant in Dearborn, Michigan, thus bypassing the local distribution company. The Michigan Public Service Commission ordered the pipeline to cease and desist from making direct sales of natural gas to the State's industrial customers without a certificate of public convenience and necessity, and the pipeline brought a Commerce Clause challenge to the commission's action. The Court observed that
"[a]ppellant asserts a right to compete for the cream of the volume business without regard to the local public convenience or necessity. Were appellant successful in this venture, it would no doubt be reflected adversely in [the LDC's] over-all costs of service and its rates to customers whose only source of supply is [the LDC]. This clearly presents a situation of . . . vital interest to the State of Michigan." Id., at 334.
In view of the economic threat that competition for large industrial consumers posed to gas service to small captive
13 In the present case, the parties have not briefed the question whether the present amended version of the NGA and related federal legislation continues the express Commerce Clause exemption for state regulation and taxation of retail natural gas sales recognized in Panhandle-Indiana, and we do not decide this issue. We note, however, that the language of § 1(b) of the NGA, which the Panhandle-Indiana Court construed as creating the exemption, itself remains unchanged. (Compare 52 Stat. 821 with 15 U. S. C. § 717(b) (1994).)
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