FEDERAL POWER ACT - JURISDICTION AND FUNCTIONS OF THE FEDERAL POWER COMMISSION - CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS

Before December 16, 1940, John Smith could look complacently on the muddy creek flowing through his pasture, secure in the knowledge that the right to use the waters in that stream was his, free from any outside interference, so long as he had due regard for the rights of his neighbors. Now, however, John Smith would do well to examine the myriad regulations and provisions of the federal statutes before damming that creek to store up water for his cows during the dry season. It is entirely possible that his muddy creek would now be considered a "navigable" stream in the federal courts.