United States v. State of West Virginia

• Decision Date: 20 May 1935
• Docket Number: No. 17,17
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

295 U.S. 463

55 S.Ct. 789

79 L.Ed. 1546

UNITED STATES

v STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA et al.

No. 17.

Argued May 2, 1935.

Decided May 20, 1935.

[Syllabus from pages 463-465 intentionally omitted] Mr. Homer A. Holt, of Charleston, W. Va., for defendant State of West Virginia.

Messrs. Edward W. Knight and Robert S. Spilman, both of Charleston, W. Va., for defendants Electro Metallurgical Co. and others.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 465-467 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an original suit in equity, brought by the United States, in which relief by injunction is sought against the defendants, the state of West Virginia, Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation, a New York corporation, and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Electro Metallurgical Company and New-Kanawha Power Company, West Virginia corporations. The questions now presented are raised by separate motions, one by the state of West Virginia, the other by the corporate defendants, to dismiss the bill of complaint on the grounds that it does not state any justicable controversy between the United States and the state of West Virginia, and that it appears upon the face of the bill of complaint that this Court has no original jurisdiction of the suit against the defendants or any of them.

The bill of complaint, filed January 14, 1935, contains allegations which so far as now relevant, may be detailed as follows: The New river flows northwesterly across the state of West Virginia and near the center of the state joins the Gauley river to form the Kanawha river, which flows thence to the state boundary and into the Ohio river. The New and Kanawha rivers are one continuous interstate stream, which throughout its course constitutes navigable waters of the United States. There are many locations for damsites on the rivers; four dams have been constructed on the New river at points in Virginia and West Virginia, and a fifth at Hawks Nest, W. Va., upon which the present litigation centers is now approaching completion. The United States has constructed ten dams on the Kanawha river for the purpose of improving navigation, and is now engaged in construction work on two additional dams on the Kanawha river immediately below the Hawks Nest project, and has in contemplation the construction of a large reservoir at Bluestone, W. Va., on the New river above the Hawks Nest project, for purposes of flood control, production of power, and in aid of navigation. It is alleged that the New and Kanawha rivers throughout West Virginia constitute a continuous stream which was in its natural condition and still is susceptible of navigation, and is a highway capable of being improved and used for purposes of interstate and foreign commerce; that any obstructions to its navigability will be removed or overcome by improvements initiated by the United States and now in operation or in the course of construction; that the Hawks Nest project will seriously obstruct navigation in the New and Kanawha rivers, by producing fluctuations in the flow of New river; and that, upon the filing by New-Kanawha Power Company of a declaration of intention to construct the dam, pursuant to section 23 of the Federal Water Power Act, chapter 285, 41 Stat. 1063, 1075, §§ 23, 30, 16 U.S.C. §§ 791, 817 (16 USCA §§ 791, 817), the Federal Power Commission determined that the proposed Hawks Nest dam would affect the interests of interstate commerce, and that under the act the dam could not lawfully be built without a license from the Commission.

It is further alleged that the defendant New-Kanawha Power Company has obtained from the Public Service Commission of West Virginia a license or permit to construct the dam at Hawks Nest for power purposes. This permit was later transferred to the defendant Electro Metallurgical Company; and the corporate defendants, acting under the state license, are now engaged in the construction of the dam. It is alleged that its construc- tion is in violation of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1899, c. 425, § 9, 30 Stat. 1121, 1151, 33 U.S.C. § 401 (33 USCA § 401), and the Federal Water Power Act, in that the plans for the project have not received the consent of Congress or the approval of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army and the Secretary of War, and the defendants have received no license for the project from the Federal Power Commission.

The allegations with respect to the state of West Virginia are that the state challenges and denies the claim of the United States that the New river is a navigable stream; that the state asserts a right superior to that of the United States to license the use of the New and Kanawha rivers for the production and sale of hydroelectric power, and denies the right of the Federal Power Commission to require a license for the construction and operation of the Hawks Nest project by the corporate defendants; and that the state asserts that, in so far as the Federal Water Power Act purports to confer upon the Federal Power Commission authority to license the project or to control the use of the river by the corporate defendants, the act is an invasion of the sovereign rights of the state and a violation of the Constitution of the United States. The bill further elaborates, in great detail and particularity, but does not enlarge, these basic allegations.

It prays an injunction restraining the corporate defendants from constructing or operating the Hawks Nest project without a license from the Federal Power Commission. It also asks an adjudication that the New river is navigable waters of the United States and that the United States has the right to construct and operate, and to license others to construct and operate, dams and connected hydroelectric plants on the New and Kanawha rivers. We are asked to declare that any right of the state of West Virginia to license the construction and operation of dams upon the rivers, or to sell or to license others to sell power generated at such dams, is subject to the rights of the United States, and to enjoin the state from asserting any right, title, or interest in any dam, or hydroelectric plant in connection with it, or in the production and sale of hydroelectric power on the New and Kanawha rivers, superior or adverse to that of the United States, and from in any manner disturbing or interfering with the possession, use, and enjoyment of such right by the United States.

It can no longer be doubted that the original jurisdiction given to this Court by section 2, art. 3 of the Constitution, in cases 'in which a state shall be a party,' includes cases brought by the United States against a state. United States v. Texas, 143 U.S. 621, 12 S.Ct. 488, 36 L.Ed. 285; United States v. Michigan, 190 U.S. 379, 396, 23 S.Ct. 742, 47 L.Ed. 1103; Oklahoma v. Texas, 252 U.S. 372, 40 S.Ct. 353, 64 L.Ed. 619; Id., 258 U.S. 574, 581, 42 S.Ct. 406, 66 L.Ed. 771; United States v. State of Minnesota, 270 U.S. 181, 195, 46 S.Ct. 298, 70 L.Ed. 539; United States v. State of Utah, 283 U.S. 64, 51 S.Ct. 438, 75 L.Ed. 844; compare Florida v. Georgia, 17 How. 478, 494, 15 L.Ed. 181; United States v. North Carolina, 136 U.S. 211, 10 S.Ct. 920, 34 L.Ed. 336. But the original jurisdiction thus conferred is only of those cases within the judicial power of the United States which, under the first clause of section 2, art. 3 of the Constitution, extends 'to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and * * * to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party * * *' Com. of Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 480-485, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078; see State of Wisconsin v. Pelican Insurance Co., 127 U.S. 265, 289, 8 S.Ct. 1370, 32 L.Ed. 239. Our original jurisdiction does not include suits of the United States against persons or corporations alone (see In re Barry, 2 How. 65, 11 L.Ed. 181; Louisiana v. Texas, 176 U.S. 1, 16, 20 S.Ct. 251, 44 L.Ed. 347; Baltimore & O.R. Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 215 U.S. 216, 224, 30 S.Ct. 86, 54 L.Ed. 164; State of Oklahoma v. Texas, 258 U.S. 574, 581, 42 S.Ct. 406, 66 L.Ed. 771), nor is it enough to sustain the jurisdiction in such a case that a state has been made a party defendant. The bill of complaint must also present a 'case' or 'controversy' to which the state is a party, and which is within the judicial power granted by the judiciary article of the Constitution.

Hence we pass directly to the question whether the bill of complaint presents a case or controversy between the United States and the state of West Virginia within the judicial power. The answer is unaffected by the fact, set forth in the bill of complaint, that the state, on its application to intervene in a suit, since discontinued, brought by the United States, in the District Court for West Virginia to restrain the corporate defendants from constructing the dam, asserted its interest as a state in the development of power under state license at the Hawks Nest dam, particularly in the license fees and taxes to be derived from the project. The details of the attempted intervention at most serve only to support the allegations of the bill, that the state has asserted the right, through a license of the Hawks Nest project, to control the use of the rivers for power purposes.

At the outset, it should be noted that the bill in the present suit neither asks the protection nor alleges the invasion of any property right. It asserts no title in the United States to the bed of the stream, which might afford a basis for a suit to remove a could on title, as in United States v. State of Utah, supra, and United States v....