Preservation of the snail darter
The preservation of the snail darter, a small fish native to the Little Tennessee River, highlights a significant environmental conflict in U.S. history. The construction of the Tellico Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the 1970s posed a direct threat to the snail darter's critical habitat, leading to widespread concern among environmentalists and local citizens. This situation became a pivotal test of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as citizens sought to halt the dam's construction on the grounds of protecting both the species and the region's cultural, agricultural, and recreational resources.
In a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1978, the court ruled that the dam's construction would violate the ESA, temporarily protecting the snail darter. However, subsequent political actions led to the eventual completion of the dam in 1979, resulting in the extinction of the snail darter within its native habitat, though some populations were later relocated. Despite this setback, the snail darter's status was downgraded from "endangered" to "threatened" in 1984, and it was listed as "vulnerable" by 2024. This case illustrates the complex interplay between environmental protection, legislative action, and societal values surrounding natural resources and endangered species.
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Preservation of the snail darter
DEFINITION: Small fish native to the Little Tennessee River
The fight by environmentalists and others to prevent the building of the Tellico Dam, which would destroy the snail darter’s critical habitat, was a test of both the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began building dams in the Tennessee Valley in 1936. In 1960 the TVA had more than sixty dams in the region and focused on building the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. The Little Tennessee River and its valley were sacred to the Cherokee and used by more than three hundred farm families; in addition, the region’s only remaining stretch of natural river was enjoyed by hundreds of canoeists and fishing enthusiasts. In response to the proposed Tellico Dam, a citizens’ coalition was formed in 1964. Although the local citizens were unable to stop the TVA from beginning the Tellico project, enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970 gave them a way to stop it. A court order stopped the construction of the until 1973, when the TVA produced a legally sufficient environmental impact statement on the project.
Around the same time, a University of Tennessee professor discovered an of perch, the snail darter (Percina tanasi), living in the Tellico project area. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) prohibits federal actions that jeopardize the existence of endangered species or modify the critical habitats of such species. Citizens opposed to the building of the dam began administrative and court proceedings based on the ESA to stop the project. The Tellico citizens’ group presented the argument in court that the TVA did not properly value the river as a major recreational resource, the valley for its rich agricultural lands, or the area’s historic resources. The citizens pointed to the snail darter as an species, a barometer of endangered human and economic values that the disappearance of which would signal devastating environmental degradation.
In 1978 the US Supreme Court decided that construction of the Tellico Dam violated the ESA; the decision permanently ended attempts to complete the project. However, members of Congress held meetings to consider the extreme nature of the law’s application: a $100 million dam stopped because of a fish. The conclusion drawn as the result of these meetings was that the Court’s decision was rational. Congress later created the Endangered Species Committee to authorize the extinction of certain species in compelling cases. The committee reviewed the case of Tennessee’s snail darter and unanimously upheld protection for the endangered fish.
The legal victory for the snail darter was spoiled by political maneuvers, however. A senator and a congressman from Tennessee inserted language into an appropriations bill that overrode the Supreme Court’s Tellico decision. Despite talk of a veto, President Jimmy Carter signed the bill into law. Consequently, the TVA finished the Tellico Dam and closed its floodgates in November 1979. Although none of the estimated twenty thousand snail darters in the Little Tennessee River survived, small populations of the fish had been transplanted to another river, and others were later discovered in several downstream sites. In 1984 the snail darter’s status under the ESA was reduced from “endangered” to “threatened.” The snail darter's population remained small, however, and by 2024, it was listed as "vulnerable."
Bibliography
Chiras, Daniel D. “Preserving Biological Diversity.” In Environmental Science. 8th ed. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 2010.
Murchison, Kenneth M. The Snail Darter Case: TVA Versus the Endangered Species Act. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007.
Parisi, Juliana. "Plater Works to Save the Snail Darter Species from Extinction." The Heights, 26 Mar. 2023, www.bcheights.com/2023/03/26/plater-and-the-case-of-the-snail-darter-and-the-dam/. Accessed 23 July 2024.
"A Tiny Fish That Once Caused an Epic Conservation Fight Is No Longer Under Threat." NPR, 4 Oct. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/10/04/1126825745/snail-darter-endangered-species-list. Accessed 23 July 2024.