Attorney General v. Consumers Power Co.

In 1969, the Federal Power Commission, now Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (ferc), granted defendants a license to construct and operate a hydroelectric plant on the shore of Lake Michigan, pursuant to the Federal Power Act (fpa), 16 USC 791a, et seq. On July 1, 1970, the State of Michigan executed a fifty year lease with defendants for ninety-eight acres of Lake Michigan bottom lands to accommodate construction of the plant. The hydroelectric plant commenced operation 1 in 1973. On the basis of defendants’ own studies, the federal courts have recognized that a "substantial number” of…