Wisconsin Public Service Corp. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

FERC (defendant) added reopener clauses to existing hydroelectric licenses, letting it later require fishway construction to protect migrating fish, either on its own motion or another agency's recommendation, under section 18 of the Federal Power Act. WPS (plaintiff), a licensee, challenged the clauses, arguing other agencies shouldn't be able to impose costly requirements without weighing project economics, that licensees couldn't predict costs in advance, and that FERC's interpretation conflicted with the FPA's separate requirement that new licenses issue on reasonable terms, as well as with the APA given the lack of evidence fishways would actually be needed.

Whether the Federal Power Act allows agencies to add fishway-protection clauses to existing water-project licenses.