New York v. FERC, 535 U.S. 1, 14 (2002)

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14

NEW YORK v. FERC

Opinion of the Court

late the transmission component of bundled retail sales. Id., at 30,225-30,226. Rather, FERC reiterated that States have jurisdiction over the retail sale of power, and stated that, as a result, "[o]ur assertion of jurisdiction . . . arises only if the [unbundled] retail transmission in interstate commerce by a public utility occurs voluntarily or as a result of a state retail program." Id., at 30,226.

II

A number of petitions for review of Order No. 888 were consolidated for hearing in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. After considering a host of objections, the Court of Appeals upheld most provisions of the order. Specifically, it affirmed FERC's jurisdictional rulings that are at issue in the present cases. 225 F. 3d, at 681.

The Court of Appeals first explained that the open access requirements in the orders—for both retail and wholesale transmissions—were "premised not on individualized findings of discrimination by specific transmission providers, but on FERC's identification of a fundamental systemic problem in the industry." Id., at 683. It held that FERC's factual determinations were reasonable and that §§ 205 and 206 of the FPA gave the Commission authority to prescribe a marketwide remedy for a marketwide problem. Interpreting Circuit precedent—primarily cases involving the transmission of natural gas, e. g., Associated Gas Distributors v. FERC, 824 F. 2d 981 (CADC 1987)—the Court of Appeals concluded that even though FERC's general authority to order open access was "limited," the statute made an exception "where FERC finds undue discrimination." 225 F. 3d, at 687-688.

In its discussion of "Federal Versus State Jurisdiction over Transmission Services," id., at 690-696, the Court of Appeals also endorsed FERC's reasoning. The Court of Appeals first addressed the complaints of the state regulatory commissions that Order No. 888 "went too far" by going beyond

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