16 U.S.C. § 807

Right of Government to take over project works

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(a) Compensation; condemnation by Federal or State Government

Upon not less than two years’ notice in writing from the commission the United States shall have the right upon or after the expiration of any license to take over and thereafter to maintain and operate any project or projects as defined in section 796 of this title, and covered in whole or in part by the license, or the right to take over upon mutual agreement with the licensee all property owned and held by the licensee then valuable and serviceable in the development, transmission, or distribution of power and which is then dependent for its usefulness upon the continuance of the license, together with any lock or locks or other aids to navigation constructed at the expense of the licensee, upon the condition that before taking possession it shall pay the net investment of the licensee in the project or projects taken, not to exceed the fair value of the property taken, plus such reasonable damages, if any, to property of the licensee valuable, serviceable, and dependent as above set forth but not taken, as may be caused by the severance therefrom of property taken, and shall assume all contracts entered into by the licensee with the approval of the Commission. The net investment of the licensee in the project or projects so taken and the amount of such severance damages, if any, shall be determined by the Commission after notice and opportunity for hearing. Such net investment shall not include or be affected by the value of any lands, rights-of-way, or other property of the United States licensed by the Commission under this chapter, by the license or by good will, going value, or prospective revenues; nor shall the values allowed for water rights, rights-of-way, lands, or interest in lands be in excess of the actual reasonable cost thereof at the time of acquisition by the licensee: Provided, That the right of the United States or any State or municipality to take over, maintain, and operate any project licensed under this chapter at any time by condemnation proceedings upon payment of just compensation is expressly reserved.

(b) Relicensing proceedings; Federal agency recommendations of take over by Government; stay of orders for new licenses; termination of stay; notice to Congress

In any relicensing proceeding before the Commission any Federal department or agency may timely recommend, pursuant to such rules as the Commission shall prescribe, that the United States exercise its right to take over any project or projects. Thereafter, the Commission, if its 11 So in original. Probably should be “it”. does not itself recommend such action pursuant to the provisions of section 800(c) of this title, shall upon motion of such department or agency stay the effective date of any order issuing a license, except an order issuing an annual license in accordance with the proviso of section 808(a) of this title, for two years after the date of issuance of such order, after which period the stay shall terminate, unless terminated earlier upon motion of the department or agency requesting the stay or by action of Congress. The Commission shall notify the Congress of any stay granted pursuant to this subsection.

(June 10, 1920, ch. 285, pt. I, § 14, 41 Stat. 1071; renumbered pt. I and amended, Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 687, title II, §§ 207, 212, 49 Stat. 844, 847; Pub. L. 90–451, § 2, Aug. 3, 1968, 82 Stat. 617; Pub. L. 99–495, § 4(b)(2), Oct. 16, 1986, 100 Stat. 1248.)Editorial NotesAmendments

1986—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 99–495 struck out first sentence which read as follows: “No earlier than five years before the expiration of any license, the Commission shall entertain applications for a new license and decide them in a relicensing proceeding pursuant to the provisions of section 808 of this title.”

1968—Pub. L. 90–451 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).

1935—Act Aug. 26, 1935, § 207, amended section generally.

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date of 1986 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 99–495 effective with respect to each license, permit, or exemption issued under this chapter after Oct. 16, 1986, see section 18 of Pub. L. 99–495, set out as a note under section 797 of this title.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 46 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1932–2025 · leading case: Fed. Power Comm'n v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 347 U.S. 239 (1954).

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Fed. Power Comm'n v. Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., 347 U.S. 239 (1954). · cites it 4× “844 -845, 16 U. S. C. § 807 . See also, § 16 as to compensation to be paid for temporary use of the property by the Government, 41 Stat.”

United States Ex Rel. Chapman v. Fed. Power Comm'n, 345 U.S. 153 (1953). · cites it 2× “844 , 16 U. S. C. § 807 . The purpose of Congress would have to be much more clearly manifested to justify us in inferring that Congress revoked the Commission's power to decide whether a private license consonant with the general scheme of development for this river basin ought…”

Alabama Power Co. v. McNinch, 94 F.2d 601 (D.C. Cir. 1937). · cites it 4× “Such net investment shall not include or be affected by the value of any lands, rights-of-way, or other property of the United States licensed by the ‘Commission under this Act, by the license or by good will, going value, or prospective revenues; nor shall the values allowed…”

Georgia Power Co. v. 54.20 Acres of Land, 563 F.2d 1178 (5th Cir. 1977). · cites it 5× “16 U.S.C. § 807 (1970). In addition, Georgia Power notes that the government may acquire a project in time of national emergency, 16 U.”

Escondido Mut. Water Co. v. La Jolla Band of Mission Indians, 466 U.S. 765 (1984). “4 Section 14(b), 16 U. S. C. § 807 (b), of the FPA authorizes the Commission to recommend to Congress that the Federal Government take over a project following expiration of the license.”

City of Tacoma v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n, 460 F.3d 53 (D.C. Cir. 2006). “Under the FPA, any of several things can happen when a license to operate a hydroelectric facility expires: (1) the federal government can take over the project, 16 U.S.C. § 807 ; (2) FERC can issue a new license to the same licensee “upon reasonable terms,” id.”

Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC v. 2.468 Acres of Land in Levy Cnty. Florida, 59 F.4th 1158 (11th Cir. 2023). “16 U.S.C. § 807 (a). That provision expressly provides that the United States must pay “just compensation,” thereby invoking the federal standard, if it does so.”

Grand River Dam Auth. v. Grand-Hydro, 335 U.S. 359 (1949). · cites it 3× “844 , 16 U.S.C. § 807 . [11] Even in a condemnation action brought in a district court of the United States under authority of the Federal Power Act, the practice and procedure is to conform as nearly as may be with that in the courts of the state where the property is situated.”

Lichoulas Ex Rel. Appleton Trust v. City of Lowell, 555 F.3d 10 (1st Cir. 2009). · cites it 2× “Liehoulas then filed the present law suit in federal district court, challenging the legality of the taking and asking that it be enjoined; his main theory was that section 807(a) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 807 (a) (2006), precluded the city from taking over a…”

Fed. Power Comm'n v. Union Elec. Co., 381 U.S. 90 (1965). · cites it 2× “844 , 16 U. S. C. § 807 (1958 ed.), the United States may recapture any project after expiration of the license, upon payment of the net investment in the property.”

Niagara Falls Power Co. v. Fed. Power Comm'n, 137 F.2d 787 (2d Cir. 1943). · cites it 2× “§ 797 (b), which allows it "to determine the actual legitimate original cost of and the net investment in a licensed project"; the last being the figure at which the United States may recapture it under § 14, 16 U.S.C.A. § 807 , when the license expires, and the base upon which…”

City of Tacoma v. Taxpayers of Tacoma, 307 P.2d 567 (Wash. 1957). · cites it 2× “" By § 14 ( 16 U.S.C.A. § 807 ), the United States is granted an option to purchase any project upon or after the expiration of the license upon payment of the net investment of *817 the licensee if the purchase price be not mutually agreed upon by the parties.”

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