Cite as: 535 U. S. 1 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
jurisdiction includes "the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce" and "the sale of electric energy at wholesale in interstate commerce." 16 U. S. C. § 824(b). The unbundled retail transmissions targeted by FERC are indeed transmissions of "electric energy in interstate commerce," because of the nature of the national grid. There is no language in the statute limiting FERC's transmission jurisdiction to the wholesale market, although the statute does limit FERC's sale jurisdiction to that at wholesale. See ibid.; cf. FPC v. Louisiana Power & Light Co., 406 U. S. 621, 636 (1972) (interpreting similar provisions of the Natural Gas Act, 15 U. S. C. § 717(b), to mean that FPC jurisdiction "applies to interstate 'transportation' regardless of whether the gas transported is ultimately sold retail or wholesale").
In the face of this clear statutory language, New York advances three arguments in support of its submission that the statute draws a bright jurisdictional line between wholesale transactions and retail transactions. First, New York contends that the Court of Appeals applied an erroneous standard of review because it ignored the presumption against federal pre-emption of state law; second, New York claims that other statutory language and legislative history shows a congressional intent to safeguard pre-existing state regulation of the delivery of electricity to retail customers; and third, New York argues that FERC jurisdiction over retail transmissions would impede sound energy policy. These arguments are unpersuasive.
The Presumption against Pre-emption
Pre-emption of state law by federal law can raise two quite different legal questions. The Court has most often stated a "presumption against pre-emption" when a controversy concerned not the scope of the Federal Government's authority to displace state action, but rather whether a given state authority conflicts with, and thus has been displaced by,
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